That Summer
by H.J. Glory
Summary: In August Joan & Adam are crossing the country to Stanford in CA, Grace & Luke are heading to Cambridge for their schools. What are their plans for their final summer before parting? Can they pull it off without their normal drama? Obviously GL & JA
1. We Need A Holiday

**That Summer  
Rating: T-M  
Summary:** In August Joan (someone) and Adam are crossing the country to Stanford in CA, and Grace and Luke are heading to Cambridge, Mass. to their colleges. What are their plans for their final summer before parting, more importantly; can they pull it off without their normal drama? Obviously J/A & G/L  
**Disclaimer:** If the characters were mine I'd be getting paid to write TV scripts, now wouldn't I? So…you know the drill.  
**A/N: **I'm a very musical person, so every chapter title will probably be with obviously the title or part of the chorus of a song or part of the verse so if you're intrigued and want to know what any of them are let me know and I'll post it at the beginning of the next chapter for you.

* * *

**Chapter 1 – We Need A Holiday**

"So correct me if I'm wrong in this, we're going to start our first summer that doesn't include returning to high school, and we're doing what for three months?" Joan asked, feeling completely bent out of shape and exasperated.

"Probably finding a job to scrape together as much money as possible before becoming part of the useless mass of millions of college students who are all going to graduate at the exact same time and then proceed to spend months looking for a job to make ourselves miserable?" Grace asked with a flick of her eyebrows and an almost wicked smile through her acerbic sarcastic wit, which she knew had just made those in her company squirm in jittering nerves.

"Unchallenged." Adam nodded with a shrug as he continued sketching the students milling about on the ground during lunch while he, Joan, Grace and Luke sat on the roof.

"This coming from the girl who's going to Harvard-what happened to being against the system?" Luke asked, biting into his sandwich and then responding with an 'ow' as Grace elbowed him in the ribs from her spot using his leg as an armrest and sharing his grapes.

"The only way to change the crappy system is to work from the inside," Grace explained with her normal facial expressions as if it had been an obvious reason from the moment she filled out the application.

"Hello? Did we forget about what I said?" Joan turned around and stared at them expectantly. All three pairs of eyes stared at her.

"Which was…what exactly?" Adam asked, sounding a little confused.

"Hello!" Joan scoffed. "Summer! Us! We can't spend our last summer before we all separate for college together!"

Luke and Adam exchanged glances before both raised an eyebrow. Grace's forehead furrowed as she prepared an answer.

"Uhm…Girardi…" She waited for Joan to look at her. "Who said we weren't going to do that? All I said was I would probably get a job." She grinned again though. "But if you're going to go all nuts-o about it, I might rethink my plan." She shrugged and looked at Luke. "What d'you think brain? Think we could go a whole summer avoiding your sister?" She wiggled her eyebrows for a moment in a rare show of public affection, even though they were only on the roof with each other.

Luke chuckled as if the answer was obvious. "Of course we could," he laughed. "I mean we could-oof. Hey! You're gonna break a rib next time!"

"No need to give details." Grace assured Luke, who's face flushed.

"Ew, okay, you guys that's…totally t.m.i." Joan closed her eyes and waved her hands as if trying to get an image out of her head. "Can we focus on what I'm actually talking about, please?" Joan asked.

"We're trying too." Luke said.

"What exactly are you trying to tell us, Jane?" Adam asked.

"Haven't you been listening?" Joan asked. "We need to go away. For like, the summer. Somewhere away from here just to be, you know, us. We can get summer jobs where ever is it we wind up you know." She explained before smiling at the three faces staring at her in shock.

"And where is it, exactly, you were planning on, Girardi?" Grace asked.

"I…I don't know." Joan replied, still worked up. "Somewhere with a beach-that's it!" She said triumphantly.

"Oh brother." Grave rolled her eyes, her head rolling with it and ending to lean back dramatically on Luke's shoulder with a disbelieving sigh. Luke snickered.

"Mom would so never allow that." He said.

"Well we'll never know if we don't try!" She said. "I've got money saved up to put down as rent for now, and then we could just get jobs and hang out! Come on you guys, we're going our separate ways in three months." Joan said desperately.

"Well, actually, you two are going separate ways-together." Grace pointed out.

"Well so are we." Luke pitched in.

"That's only because your mom signed off to let you move ahead a year." Adam remarked.

"Hey, it's not like I was undeserving." Luke replied.

"Unchallenged." Adam put his hands up in defense.

"Well it won't work if no one will help me and you don't want to do it." Joan pouted.

"Come on brain, let's go." Grace stood and grabbed her things, waiting for Luke.

"I'm game. I think it'd be cool to go somewhere else." Adam spoke up as he stood. Joan smiled.

"Yes!" She practically jumped up and down, clapping before turning to Grace. Grace sighed.

"Look…"

"Oh come on Grace! A couple of months away from the parentals…just relaxing…" Joan tried to entice Grace.

"I'll help convince mom." Luke assured.

"Oh please, like you have leverage over her." Joan said.

"Hello, youngest child." Luke said. "Besides…being the genius helps too. I'm considered responsible." He nodded. They all looked at Grace.

"And the deciding factor goes to the girl who hates bathing suits and sand…" she sighed. "Fine…I might as well give in. Besides…it would suck to spend a summer with my parents while everyone's gone." She glanced at them with a mischievous smile. "Besides…who else will I annoy?" She smirked.

"Yes!" Joan couldn't resist herself. She launched herself to Grace and hugged her with an excited squeal.

"I'll change my mind if you don't stop, Girardi." Grace said. Joan abruptly let go, smiling broadly.

"I promise I'll try to control myself better in the future." She nodded. "But remember our deal." She held her finger up, pointing at Grace. Grace rolled her eyes.

"Yes, yes, you get one hug on graduation day because you will be emotionally incapable of stopping yourself." She rattled off their deal as they headed back inside the building with one minute to go before the bell could ring.


	2. It's Hard To Believe But It Gets Better

**That Summer  
Rating: T-M  
Summary:** In August Joan (someone) and Adam are crossing the country to Stanford in CA, and Grace and Luke are heading to Cambridge, Mass. to their colleges. What are their plans for their final summer before parting, more importantly; can they pull it off without their normal drama? Obviously J/A & G/L  
**Disclaimer:** If the characters were mine I'd be getting paid to write TV scripts, now wouldn't I? So…you know the drill.

* * *

**Chapter 2 – It's Hard To Believe But It Gets Better**

"I'm out." Grace said slamming her locker shut as Joan reached her own locker.

"You're out of what?" Joan asked. "#2 pencils? Cause if that's it, I so have you covered." She smiled reassuringly as she went about gathering what books she needed. She had yet to actually see Grace at this point. Grace bit her lip for a moment looking around to see if she could spot Luke. After failing to find him and digging at her fingernails for a second, Grace took a deep breath.

"I'm out…for this summer. I can't do it." She said. Before Joan had time to look at Grace through her shock, the bell rang. "Gotta go, late for History." She said before bolting.

"Hey, Grace, how are-ow." Luke muttered as his girlfriend plowed past the right half of his body in a downright sprint up the hallway mass of bodies. "What happened?" Luke asked.

"I don't know." Joan said, angry that Grace didn't even have the decency to explain her actions. "Bell rang. You're late." She said to Luke as she slammed her locker shut and jogged for class. Luke turned around twice trying to remember which direction to go before sprinting off.

* * *

By lunch Grace had still remained elusive to everyone. She left her classes right at the bell and bee-lined for each next class. She even pretended to be taking actual notes whenever Joan, Luke or Adam sat next to her in any of her classes to avoid passing notes or speaking to them.

"Luke, did you fight with her or something?" Joan asked as they exchanged their sandwiches in fair trade.

"Why does it fall back to me every time she's having a bad day?" Luke questioned. "Unlike you two we don't fight over every little thing." He said triumphantly.

"That's not the point. You talk to her the most anymore, what's going on?" Joan continued to interrogate him.

"Let her be alone for a little bit." Luke told Joan. "She hates when you push her to open up, Joan."

"Unchallenged." Adam finally stopped shoveling down his bowl of what was supposed to be chili.

"I just want to know why she's gonna bail on us." Joan shrugged.

"Joan! Who cares about the stupid trip?" Luke threw his sandwich down. He hated when Grace was upset and he couldn't break through to her to comfort her. "Mom hasn't even agreed to it and you're acting like she stabbed you in the back or something." He stood up and began to walk away. Shaking his head and scoffing he turned back. "The world doesn't always revolve around you and what strangers tell you to do, okay? Leave Grace alone, I'll help her, since the only reason you want to help her is a greedy one." He lashed out before stalking off.

"Ouch…" Joan said.

"You know, I know you care about Grace and all, but you do sound like you're coming off as kind of…I don't know possessive of us for this whole trip thing…" He said. Joan shot him a look. Adam pursed his lips together for a moment. "So did God tell you we were supposed to go to Ocean City for the summer?" He asked curiously.

"Hey, isn't that a little hot to be wearing when it's like 90 degrees out?" Luke asked as he stood next to Grace while they stretched for P.E.

"No." She hugged the heavy hooded sweatshirt closer to herself while they waited for class to begin.

"Okay!" Coach Keady ordered after blowing her whistle. "Let's start with 50 sit ups. Partner up! Do 50 and then switch with your partner. GO!"

Grace sighed. She walked a bit away from the crowd and out of earshot with Luke. He knelt down. Grave sat in front of him. She laid back and closed her eyes as his hands reached out and carefully held her ankles and sneakers to the floor, letting her slide down so her knees were bent. She crossed her arms over her chest and Luke noticed she winced as she did.

"Are you all right?" He asked.

"I'm fine. I hate sit ups." She murmured. "You gonna keep count or what?"

"One…" Luke said as she sat up towards him and then lay back down. He tried to think of what to say as she continued to sit up and lay back. "Two…three…four…you know you can talk to me and stuff right? Seven...if your mom is you know…again-ten."

"Brain…if you want to live, shut it." She said sternly. Luke could see past the steely exterior by now though. She hadn't been putting the walls up much in the past 8 months or so. He knew that at this point the only thing that could break her trust in him would have been if her mother started drinking again. He could see it in her eyes as he counted. She closed them every few seconds to prevent them from filling up enough to spill tears out. All the while he knew she was pleading with herself in her head not to cry.

"Thirty-four…thirty-five…" Luke continued counting. He would have liked to just reach out when she sat up and wrapped her up inside of his arms just to tell her it would be okay if she would just let him help.

As if she sensed his urgency, Grace sped up her sit-ups. Luke could hardly keep up counting. "Forty, slowdown, forty-three, forty-four-Grace! You're going to hurt yourself!" Luke pleaded.

"Fifty." Grace stopped at her knees, breathless and red-faced. That's when Luke knew why she sped up her exercising. He saw the liquid drip down her cheek and realized she had raised her sweat level and the color of her face in an attempt to hide the tears.

"Don't, Luke." She said. Luke stared at her, taken aback at the use of his first name. She opened her eyes and looked at him, barely speaking above a whisper. "I can't…" she couldn't finish the sentence.

Reaching his right hand out, he rested it on her left shoulder. With a loud yelp, Grace's eyes flew open wide, fear and anger splayed across her face as she threw Luke away from her. She reached her right hand up and grabbed her left arm in pain.

"Polk what's the problem?" Coach Keady yelled across the gym. Grace glanced over. All eyes were on her-the notorious Grace Polk, reduced to a whimpering, crying pathetic human being.

"Grace what's wrong with your arm?" Luke pulled himself from the floor. He took a step closer to her. Her head swiveled to him as he approached. She looked like a hurt wild animal. She took a swift step back, looking from the class to Luke and back and forth. "Grace…" Luke said trying to get her to look at him.

"No…" She said, barely making eye contact with him.

"If someone-," Luke began to say so no one could hear him.

"No! Stop." She begged. Unable to take it any longer, Grace did the only thing she knew how; She ran. She turned and ran out of the gym and kept going. She stumbled and pummeled into a few students, not stopping to apologize. As she reached the doors she launched into Mrs. Girardi who was carrying one of Adam's sculptures. Both yelped as they collided and tumbled to the ground. Grace rolled on her side a moment, holding her left arm harder in pain.

"Oh Grace! Are you all right? What's wrong?" Helen asked as she clamored to her feet and helped Grace up. Grace took a few deep breaths, unable to hide her crying now. She looked at Helen and tried to speak but couldn't. "Oh, Grace, honey are you hurt?" Helen asked. Grace backed away as Helen tried to approach her.

"Grace!" Luke called, just catching up, with Joan and Adam in tow. "Grace wait!"

"Mom! Stop her!" Joan called. By the time Helen turned back to Grace, Grace had already made it out the door and was running. Luke ran right passed his mom and followed her.

"Hold it right there!" Helen demanded, stopping Joan and Adam in their tracks.

"Mom we have to follow them!" Joan pleaded.

"Oh no you don't. Luke went after her. You have to tell me what's going on." Helen ordered.

"Hey…my sculpture…" Adam noticed his art on the floor in pieces. He looked at Joan.

"Oh no you don't, I had nothing to do with this one buddy." She said, waving a hand.

"No, that was my fault. I'm sorry Adam. Grace and I collided." Helen's face scrunched up some.

"Mom we have to find her." Joan said. "Something's wrong."

"Somehow I think Luke is more capable of finding her than you two." Helen suggested. "Come with me, we'll figure out what's going on. Help me pick this up." She said. All three of them gathered up the remnants of Adam's sculpture and headed for the art room.

Luke made it to his house and stopped. He bent over and leaned on his knees as he tried to catch his breath, looking up the street to see if he could find any trace of which way Grace had gone.

* * *

"Do you ever give up brainiac?" Her voice called out to him. Startled, Luke almost fell as he stood upright and shot his head to the side to find Grace seated on his steps. She had her knees pulled up as tight to herself as possible and she stared at her shoes. 

Luke panted, still out of breath. He made his way slowly and cautiously towards her, afraid that he might make her run again.

"You don't have to tip toe…" she glanced at him, not letting her eyes meet his. "I'm staying put." She sighed. Luke lowered himself next to her.

"How is it…that you run away from me at school…and end up at my house when I'm giving chase?" He asked.

"Beeecause I love it when you sweat." She tried to switch gears and throw him off topic as best she could. As she said it she reached out a hand and ruffled up his sweat-soaked hair.

"Well in that case we can head upstairs and find many…other…more fun filled ways to make me sweat." He wiggled his eyebrows a bit. Grace snickered slightly as she rested her chin on her knees.

"Please…I'm well aware of what makes you sweat, brain." She said.

"Oh really?" He asked. Grace turned her head to the side and looked at him, her eyes still red and puffy.

"Of course. Playing rocks, paper, scissors with your sister…and chasing after me." She offered a tiny, halfhearted smile. Luke smiled for a slight moment. Then the light that was keeping Grace from breaking down again faded and Luke's face became serious.

"You going to tell me what happened…orrrr do you really want me to guess?" Luke asked. Grace sighed and hid her face down into her knees, hugging them tighter. She took a deep breath and lifted her head.

"Look…" She closed her eyes and shook her head slightly as she set her jaw. She took a deep breath and sighed before lifting her head. She looked at the concerned look etched across Luke's face and she almost wanted to vomit at the guilt she felt for causing him the worry and stress. Grace stood up. Luke jumped to his feet; afraid she would run away again and then froze. Grace reached to the hem of her hoodie and yanked at it, pulling it over her head.

"Hey, whoa, what are you doing?" He said, confused. And then he noticed it. It was spilling out from the bottom of the left sleeve of her short-sleeved navy blue gym t-shirt that was ripped at the collar. It was hand shaped, dark blue and purple, some parts almost black. Luke stared at it, his mouth gaping open in shock. He looked at her face, but Grace was looking away, with her jaw set.

"G-Grace…" Luke managed to push out past the lump that formed in his throat. "Did…did your _mom_ do that?" He swallowed hard. Grace stubbornly put her sweatshirt back on and hugged it close to herself.

"No, Mickey Mouse did." She returned to her usual sarcastic self. Luke frowned and looked at his feet, visibly distraught over this news.

"Has she done this before?" He asked. Grace shook her head slightly, her arms crossed tightly to herself. "Why would you bail then?"

"Excuse me?" Grace looked at him, floored. "Are we really going to discuss going to the beach _now_?"

"Don't get me wrong I really don't care if we go to the beach or stay here. You go, I follow. It's just…" He looked her in the eyes. "If we can get away from her before August…I mean…wouldn't it be better-if she's hurting you especially?"

"It only happened once." Grace said, tapping her foot nervously. "She didn't even mean it." She tried to explain.

"Grace, whether she meant it or not, once is too much." Luke said angrily. Grace was taken aback by his tone. Her eyebrows arched as she watched him pace slightly back and forth. "I'm so sick of her acting like she's getting better. And then she hurts you. And you know one of these times we're going to get caught, having you climb in my window just to get away from her at night-Grace it's…I can't watch it anymore." He finally looked up at her. "I love you…you shouldn't have to live like this." He told her. Grace's cheeks flushed and her eyes filled up.

"You don't have to go getting all…sentimental on me." She cleared her throat.

"Grace, this isn't a joke." He put his hand on her shoulder and waited for her to look up. "What have you got to lose if we get to do this? Huh? Less pain? I mean yeah we have to put up with Adam and my sister but come on…" He did his best to sway her thoughts.

"Who's going to take care of her when she drinks till she's sick?" She asked, looking away, feeling guilty.

"It's not your job to do that." Luke said quietly. Grace took a deep breath, mulling her options over in her head. Biting the corner of her lip, she began to nod slightly.

"Okay…" she said barely above a whisper. Luke crouched down some to lock her eyes to his.

"What was that?" He asked. She lightly punched his shoulder and let out a small laugh.

"I'm older than you, don't make me repeat myself." She said.

"Well I'm taller." He bumped her with his shoulder gently and winked. Grace couldn't help but laugh some. Luke placed a small kiss on her forehead and put his arm about her shoulder. "C'mon…we'd better get back."

"Fine…fine…" she sighed.

"You caused quiet a scene." Luke grinned. "Very impressive. 5 style points."

"5? That's it? You are such a cheap judge." Grace mocked back, letting her arm reach out and lay across his back as they walked back towards school.


	3. I Can't Keep My Eyes Off Of You

**That Summe**r  
**Rating: T-M  
Summary:** In August Joan & Adam are crossing the country to Stanford in CA, Grace & Luke are heading to Cambridge for their schools. What are their plans for their final summer before parting? Can they pull it off without their normal drama? Obviously G/L & J/A  
**Disclaimer:** If the characters were mine I'd be getting paid to write TV scripts, now wouldn't I? So…you know the drill.

**To reviewers: Glad you like it so far, keep letting me know how you feel. If there's something you want to suggest I do with a character let me know, I'm open to suggestions! Thanks again! Much love to ya! Read on witcho bad self!**

**

* * *

Chapter 3 – I Can't Keep My Eyes Off Of You**

"Oh for the love of God…" Grace sighed, resting her head back on the hot leather backseat from her spot behind Adam who was sitting shotgun. "It is far too early in the morning to have to listen to country music for three and a half hours." She rolled her head to the left and looked at Luke, who was slouched with his knees scrunched up from being too tall for the crammed backseat and he looked like he was somewhere between a state of sleep and zombification. "What happened to hooking up the CD player we bought so we wouldn't have this problem in this hunk of junk?" She grimaced.

"Hey don't look at me, if someone wouldn't have turned every car tune-up into a greasy make-out session maybe it would have gotten down-oww!" Luke rubbed his arm tenderly.

"Dude!" Grace warned. She glanced at the front seat. Adam and Joan exchanged glances and looked at the two before laughing.

"Hey…it's not my fault!" Luke defended himself.

"And don't be calling Squiggy a hunk of junk, he won't appreciate that!" Joan retorted.

"Why exactly did you name the car after someone on Laverne & Shirley?" Adam asked.

"I didn't get a vote in the naming." Luke defended himself.

"My vote didn't count because of my "lecture" on how cars are killing the planet even though I helped pay for it…" Grace shrugged.

"I didn't think you would mind, and so the choice went to my decision by default." Joan grinned happily.

"Yeah, well woohoo," Grace put her hand up as she dryly mocked the name Joan picked. "Schlemiel, schlimazel, hasenpfeffer incorporated." She half-stated and half-sung dryly. "Now that we've relived our Laverne & Shirley days can we get a move on? Your mom's starting to get all weepy…it's freaking me out, yo."

Luke lifted a tired hand and waved reassuringly at his parents who were standing on the porch, watching them. They had stuffed the trunk full of their belongings as best they could in their beat-up, faded, maroon GTO. It had been in impound when they had gotten it. All 4 of them had chipped in to buy it and as such had agreed on sharing it. They all had keys and they would simply trade off the car. So far in 4 months of owning it, there hadn't been many problems. Of course that's not counting the 3 weeks it took of Luke, Kevin, Adam and Mr. Girardi 'bonding' over making the engine run successfully. Now, if only they could reupholster the cut black leather of the seats instead of sealing them shut with duct tape. The outside of the retractable roof was still in tact in good shape, but the interior side was a different story. But they had come to love the car.

Grace looked at Luke. He looked horribly uncomfortable. After all he had sprouted up to 5'10" and though that might not have been tall per say to most, it was a reach for Grace's neck at 5'5". He had barely enough room between the back of the driver's seat and the seat he was in, to squish his legs in. His knees and shins were pressed against the back of the seat and he looked plainly uncomfortable. Grace couldn't help but smile slightly at his predicament. Leaning so her back was against the side of the car and her shoulder hit the leather of the cushion she lifted her legs up and rested them across Luke's lap. He turned his head to the right and looked at her as Joan turned the car on and with a hoot and holler of excitement, waved to her parents and pulled onto the street, heading for the highway.

Grace rolled her eyes so Luke could see as Joan launched into the chorus of 'Redneck Woman' by Gretchen Wilson, turning the radio up.

"Oh make the insanity stop!" Grace covered her ears and groaned desperately. Adam laughed as Joan danced as she pulled up to a red light. The top was down and Grace squinted in the sunlight. She pulled her sunglasses down and tried to tune out Joan who had succeeded in getting Adam to dance mockingly along with her as they waited for the light to change. She felt Luke's left hand reach across her feet and place his hand at her ankle just above her converse sneakers. A tiny hint of a smile extended across the right side of Grace's lips.

"Are you fondling my ankles, Girardi?" she asked him. Joan and Adam couldn't hear them speak over the sound of the radio and the noise of the wind as they drove. Grace was glad she'd bothered to put her baseball cap on backwards or else she'd be eating her hair at this point. Luke smiled slightly.

"I believe I am…" He replied. His right hand crawled its way up the shin of her ratty jeans to her knee where it stopped there. He grinned wickedly before he started singing their 'song of songs.' "Cellllebrate good times, come on…" He wiggled his eyebrows. Grace couldn't help the laugh that came out.

"It's a celebration…" She sung in the lowest, mocking voice she could. Luke laughed back at her. Grace found she couldn't hold her compulsions in and she leaned over and granted Luke the kiss she knew he so desperately had been waiting for.

"Whoa! Hey! Keep it out of the driver's line of vision!" Joan ordered after she'd glanced in the rearview mirror and spotted Luke and Grace's lip lock. Both pulled away, turning slightly red.

* * *

After two hours of driving, Joan pulled into a gas station, which looked so rundown that it hadn't been used in decades. The four teens climbed out of the car. Luke walked around the car and stood next to Grace. He stretched with his arms over his head. 

"Great…anyone ever seen Deliverance?" She said before muttering out the banjo notes of the dueling banjos.

"Headline. Teens die at murderous hands of gas station owners in boondocks." Adam said as he followed Jane towards the door of the station.

"OW!" Luke yelped as he all but fell back, grabbing at his calf. Joan screamed and Adam spun around as Grace jumped back for a second with a scream. She went over to Luke.

"What? What's wrong?" She asked leaning down to inspect his leg, expecting to find that a zombie had bitten it and he was gushing blood all over.

"Charlie horse." Luke scrunched his eyes up as he rubbed the cramped calf muscle.

"Christ, Luke, don't do that!" Joan called to him. Grace smacked Luke upside the head.

"OW!" Luke complained. "I'm starting to see how abusive this relationship is…" He teased her as he stood up and rubbed his head.

"Don't act like you're attacked when we're in the middle of nowhere at the run down gas station from hell, dude!" She couldn't hide her smile at finding the humor in it all.

"Can I help you folks?" A man in a greasy jumpsuit said from the open garage door of the workshop connected to the gas station store. He was rubbing his hands on a greasy rag. Joan grabbed her heart and turned again.

"People! Can we not give Joan a heart attack today?" She begged.

"We just need some gas sir." Adam said.

"Well then, I am at your service." He replied. "Tell ye what, you kids look hungry, help yourselves to some of the junk food in there and I'll fill 'er up for ye." He said. Adam, Grace and Luke went into the station eagerly. "Why don't you help me Joan?" The attendant said. Joan put her head back dramatically and rolled her eyes.

"Why must you do this to me?" she asked as she walked over.

"You need a tank of gas." God shrugged.

"Great…God shows up to give me gas…" She scrunched her eyebrows. "There's definitely some great cosmic irony and comedy in that…" She threw her hands up and laughed.

"Huh…" Grace mused from the window of the station.

"What?" Luke came up behind Grace to see what she was looking at.

"Do you suppose _that's_ God?" Grace asked. Luke followed her line of vision.

"Who?" Adam's interest peaked and he walked over behind both of them.

"The gas station guy?" Luke asked.

"No way…" Adam said. Grace shrugged and bit into a Twinkie.

"Hey, she's the one chatting up a storm with him. Maybe he is?" she smiled as she looked at them. "He does work in mysteeerrriousss ways doesn't he?" She asked. Adam and Luke laughed as they waited to pay for their food and fuel. "I got five in my pocket, what've you boys got? Ante up." She slapped her five-dollar bill on the counter.

"Aw, kids I don't need no money for the food. Just the gas. That's 18 bucks even little missy." He said to Grace. Grace's face hardened.

"You don't wanna call her that man." Luke warned.

"Ohh, well I don't mean to offend there miss. It's not in my nature." He nodded kindly to her. Grace's eyes narrowed slightly as he tipped the rim of his worn out baseball cap to her.

"Are you divine?" She asked almost mocking him. "Can you tell me the future?" She asked.

"Well there miss, I ain't always much to look at." He chuckled. "I enjoy yer spunk though. As fer the future, well, I never saw the future in terms you think of, but I can tell y'all are heading for the beach for the summer and I'll spotcha back here on yer way home at the end o'the summer, for sure." Her grinned and winked at her. Here ya go, two buckaroos back." He handed it to her. Grace actually smiled to him and tipped her head.

"See you on the flip side." She said as she led the others out.

"What just happened in there?" Luke asked Adam.

"I have no idea." Adam replied.

"Relax boys-I'm down with the G-O-D." Grace chuckled.

"Okay, Adam, it's so your turn to drive." Joan tossed him the keys from her spot in the passenger's seat now.

"Sweet, that means a less bumpy ride." Grace cheered as she hopped over and into the backseat. Luke climbed in on the driver's side. He had been starting to feel some motion sickness and Grace could tell. She remembered the time they wound up having to pull over on the side of the highway the first time the two of them had just gone Sunday driving to get away from Grace's house. She waited for Adam to pull away to lean closer and inquire about Luke's well-being. She ran her hand through his hair. Luke looked over through his sunglasses and Grace let on a little smile, remembering how excited he'd been when he'd first gotten his contacts.

She remembered thinking that she'd never seen quite how blue his eyes were until that day. She had been lying at the end of the slide in the park, staring up at the sky with her headphones on, listening to one of his Metallica CDs even though she had sworn she never would. She had closed her eyes, not wanting to deal with her thoughts about her mom, her friends, and the tumbling walls she'd worked so hard to build. She opened her eyes and there, staring her right back in the face were eyes that rivaled the bright dazzling blue of the sky behind them. She'd been caught off guard that moment, in the proud look in his eyes and the bright smile lighting up his face. She thought she was dreaming. He had climbed up the ladder of the slide and leaned down the slide until he was upside down over her face to face. When he leaned down and engulfed his mouth over hers, she knew she wasn't dreaming, and that she was experiencing something like the kiss she'd seen between Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst when Luke had made her watch Spider-Man with him.

"Yeah?" Luke asked when he looked over after feeling her hand roll through his spiked hair. She didn't quite pull away when he looked at her like she usually did as if he was catching her in some horrible act. Instead she stared at him distantly, her hand left on the side of his face with her thumb moving back and forth just slightly against his cheek. He could see she'd gotten lost in her thoughts. Grace blinked slightly and tightened her lips together for a second before running her hand through his hair again.

"You look a little green, brain." She said solemnly.

"I'm all right…" He assured her. She noticed his hand on his stomach.

"All right, c'mon, lay down before you barf on everyone, dude." She patted her leg to let him know he could use her as a pillow. Obeying Grace gratefully, Luke swung his body around. She had been on an angle against the side of the car and the seat. Luke laid his head in her lap, with his ear and his temple touching her stomach, which was showing just a tiny bit at the bottom of her t-shirt. He swung his legs out over the side of the car so he wouldn't twist his spine too horribly. After situating himself, he looked up at Grace. She was looking down at him as she calmly let her left hand, alternate between running it through his hair to sliding it down his shoulder and upper arm in an effort to calm his nerves and get his mind off of the motion sickness. She let herself smile when she saw him looking up at her. Luke reached his right hand out to her right hand and entwined his fingers through hers. She wanted to speak to tell him so many things, but she knew that right then, she didn't have too.

"Close your eyes." She told him. "It'll make you feel better." She assured. Luke did as he was told and within no time, his breathing had slowed to a rhythm and he was asleep.

"So, uhm, Jane?" Adam asked after glancing in the rearview to see the intimate moment between Grace and Luke and feeling awkward.

"Yeah?" Joan looked over at Adam as he drove. He glanced between her and the road as he spoke to her.

"Was that God?" Adam asked. Joan's mouth hung open in shock as she had her arms wrapped around her knees, which were up because her bare feet were on the dashboard.

"Excuse me?" She asked after a minute.

"The gas station dude." Adam clarified. "You know…was he God?"

"What makes you say that?" Joan asked nervously. The God aspect had just become an unmentionable constant in everyone's life. They tried to help her in what Adam, Luke and Grace had labeled as her Holy Grail Quests. Usually it meant they made a lot of jokes in reference to Monty Python and The Holy Grail to make her feel better.

"Oh, no, I-I didn't. Uhm, Grace saw you talking with him when we were inside." He explained quickly. "She talked to him when he came in, b-but I don't know exactly what their exchange was. Me and Luke were kinda chowing down Doritos…He called her Little Missy."

"And she didn't put the pump down his throat and fill him full of fuel?" Joan asked.

"Don't change the subject, you're cheating." Adam stated.

"How am I cheating? I can't even ask God questions! Why can you ask questions of me about God? That's so unfair!" Joan noted. Adam glanced at her. She sighed. "Yes…it was…"

"What'd he tell you to do this time?" Adam asked. Joan bit her lip.

"Not now, okay? I'll tell you soon though…okay?" She asked. Adam smiled slightly.

"Unchallenged." He nodded. "But I'll hold you to that."

"Thanks." She smiled and leaned over and kissed his cheek. Adam smiled as he merged onto the highway.

* * *

**AN: Sooo my hit counter says that as of right now, 1:40 am on June 8th, 223 people have read this story, but only 4 have reviewed what's up with that? Do I suck that much? I need feedback. Don't be afraid to tell me what's wrong with it too, it doesn't have to be just nice reviews...although I do love nice reviews...) Much love to you and yours! Peace!**  



	4. And I Saw What You Did

**That Summer  
Rating: T-M  
Summary:** In August Joan & Adam are crossing the country to Stanford in CA, Grace & Luke are heading to Cambridge for their schools. What are their plans for their final summer before parting? Can they pull it off without their normal drama? Obviously G/L & J/A  
**Disclaimer:** If the characters were mine I'd be getting paid to write TV scripts, now wouldn't I? So…you know the drill.  
**Answers to your questions: Answer 1 - **Nope, Joan&Adam being together has yet to be explained, but I promise it will be at some point in an upcoming chapter. Hey, a little mystery is good, no? ) **Answer 2 -** As for the appearance or lack of Ryan…I guess you'll just have to wait and see what happens in that neck of the woods now won't you? **Answer 3 –** I promise I will explain when the others found out about/believed Joan&God's interactions as well. **Answer/Response –** I do love Joan & Adam as a couple as much as the next J&A lover and I know there's more G&L than J&A but…it just came out of my head that way. I'll work on it, I promise!  
**To all reviewers:** Oh how you feed my ego and make me want to write more…thank you! Much love to ya! **Sam –** thank you, I'm glad I don't suck! **Laura – **Wow, I'm so…flattered! Is this really one of the best JoA's you've read? I'm blushing, seriously**. TJ – **Thanks for the support, I was hoping I had the characters down. I wanted to do them justice. **KJFlygirl87 –** I'm so thrilled you love the story. You are truly a faithful reviewer! Don't be afraid to let me know if my G&L starts on the suckage all right? As I said, much love to all of you, for feeding my ego and making me want to keep writing more for you! I hope this quells your addiction now that stupid CBS has cancelled a show just because its viewers had to think to watch it…what a shame we get stuck with nonsense shows and reality TV…oh well-that's what TV Shows on DVD are for! Now, with this huge, mouthful of extra junk, read on, please!

**

* * *

Chapter 4 – And I Saw What You Did**

"Okay, make a left here." Joan said, looking at the map in her hands.

"Left…" Adam said as he turned the car.

"Was it really a good idea to agree to rent a place without seeing it?" Grace wondered aloud as Adam drove barely above 20 miles per hour to avoid hitting any of the tourists and beach goers and kids crossing the street, while lugging their belongings to the beach.

"My uncle's best friend gave us an awesome deal. I figured I could trust him." Joan shrugged. "It should be 6 blocks up, around that bend up ahead. It's supposed to be a dead-end." Joan noted the 'No Outlet Ahead' sign on the side of the road.

"Huh? Wha?" Luke lifted his head startled when Grace lifted her leg swiftly to jolt him awake. She snickered slightly at him. "Are we here already? I wasn't asleep that long was I?" He rubbed his face as he took a deep breath.

"An hour, brain." She told him. "Now sit up would ya? My leg's asleep!" She teased him. Luke pulled his legs back inside the car and sat up. The blood rushed to his head and his upper body almost slouched right back down, but Grace steadied him. "Whoa there, you're a science brain, don't you know not to sit up so fast? Wicked head rush huh?"

"You're telling me. Aw man…" he examined his left shin with a frown.

"What?" Grace raised an eyebrow, leaning over to look. She laughed out loud. "I guess you shouldn't have put your legs out over the car in shorts, huh?" she put her finger on it to see the white spot that showed up on his red skin when she moved her finger away.

"Ow much…" Luke muttered. "Not even at the house yet and I've got sunburn."

"Well, just think, an hour outside and your body will even out." Joan laughed at him.

"I'll remind you of that when you look like Rudolph because you forget to put sunscreen on your nose." Luke retorted.

"That was totally one time!" Joan defended.

"Aw, is somebody a cranky napper?" Grace mocked with a funny baby voice, making a face at him.

"Just gimmie a minute to wake up." He said to her. Grace nodded reassuringly.

"Pull in the driveway right there! 5235, that's it." Joan pointed excitedly.

"Whoa, Girardi…how do we afford this exactly?" Grace asked, staring in shock at the beachfront rancher they were apparently renting until August 5th.

"I told you. Uncle's best friend owns it. He gave us an awesome deal as a favor to my uncle. Something about Uncle Richard saved his life, literally or something." Joan explained as she climbed out of the car.

"Isn't your uncle's friend supposed to meet us here with the keys, Jane?" Adam asked as he shut off the car and got out too. Luke and Grace climbed out and headed for the trunk with Adam and Joan before looking up.

"Yeah, he is." Joan said, opening the trunk. "Why, is he here?" She looked at the porch. Her eyes widened and her mouth hung open for a second. "This is not happening." She closed her eyes tightly. Grace looked up.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Grace sighed. "I knew it." She looked at Luke, "Didn't I tell you it was way too good to be true? We're renting a summer house from the anti-Christ!" Grace almost snorted as she laughed.

"That's pretty funny considering you don't believe in Christ." Luke grinned.

"Hey, Jews for Jesus my friend, that's right Jews for J.C." She winked as she picked up a duffel bag and a suitcase. Luke grabbed two duffel bags and a suitcase out of the back.

"He's not the anti-Christ, you guys. He's just the bane of my existence." She sighed.

"Whoa…did God like make this happen?" Adam said, a little spaced out. Joan elbowed him. "Hey…what? Did he, Jane?"

"Shush…no God-talk around Satan incarnate." Joan grimaced. She grabbed a wheeling suitcase and put a duffel bag over her shoulder. Adam grabbed the last two suitcases and shut the trunk.

"So…you're best friends with my uncle since when?" Joan asked as the four approached.

"Er…well, no." Ryan replied with a mirth filled grin. "Actually my father is." He said coming down the steps to meet them. "Let me help you with those." He reached for Joan's luggage.

"No, I've got it just fine, thanks." Joan backed an inch or so away. Ryan's smile faded.

"I'm just here to drop off the keys and help you settle in, per my father's request." He held his hands up in defense. Grace let a mischievous grin cross her face.

"Sounds good to me." She dropped her bag and suitcase in his hands and then took the suitcase Luke had and piled that on top. "Lead the way, bellhop." She crossed her arms, challenging him. Ryan smirked at her with a nod of his head.

"As you wish." He turned and made his way up the steps and managed to get the door and make his way into the foyer of the house before he set the bags down. Grace followed him with Luke, Adam and then Joan in tow. Grace uncrossed one of her arms.

"Keys." She said simply, fire in her eyes.

"You don't want me to show you around?" He asked. Grace snickered.

"No, Beelzebub, I think our hunter/gatherer skills are finely enough tuned to discern what rooms are used for what activities." She tried to usher him out, knowing that Joan was growing uncomfortable every second that he was still there.

"I was told to show you around." Ryan said sternly, glaring at her. "I promised my father and I don't know about you but I don't break promises." He said as they stared each other down.

"Okay, why don't we let him show us around and that'll be the end of it?" Luke suggested, looking to Adam for back up.

"Unchallenged." Adam looked at Ryan. "The quicker, the better."

"Follow me." Ryan turned so his back was facing them. He held his arms out. "This is the foyer."

"Really? I thought it was Care-A-Lot, anyone know where Grumpy is, he owes me fifty big ones for the happy pills I left him last time I came up here on my magic caring and sharing rainbow rider." Grace said sarcastically. Joan, Luke and Adam couldn't help their laughter. Ryan took a deep breath and continued.

"To your left is the dining room. If you make a right in the dining room you hit the kitchen. If you walk straight down the foyer hallway you'll hit the door to the back deck, which leads to the private beach owned by the houses on this block. That first door on the left is the other door for the kitchen. The door past it is the first bedroom which has a full bath connected to it. The first door over here on the right is the living room complete with 30 inch TV, Digital Cable, DVD player, and PS2 if you have games, etc. The second doorway on the right is the second bedroom with another full bath. The last door past that is the third bedroom which, has no bathroom, but it does have the laundry room in its closet." Ryan explained. There's a linen closet in the back corner of the living room. You'll have to stock the fridge yourself." Ryan explained quickly.

"I call the bedroom on the right." Joan started walking to get away from Ryan.

"I'm there." Adam followed her. Luke stood behind Grace, not wanting to give Ryan and excuse to be alone with her.

"Luke, why don't you drag this stuff to the bedroom on the left and I'll get the keys?" Grace said, her arms were still crossed and she turned her head to the right to look at him as she said it. Luke stared at Ryan still.

"But…" He began to protest.

"I'll be all right." She assured him. Luke obeyed and Grace looked at Ryan. She uncrossed her left arm and held out her hand again.

"Like I said…keys." She said to him. Ryan looked at her, smiling slightly.

"Amazing isn't it? The irony following us around?" Ryan started a conversation. Grace rolled her eyes.

"If I want obvious stupid rhetoric statements I'll call Mr. Miyagi." Grace waved her fingers, signaling for him to hand them over. "Come on, give me the keys and get out of here, you've done enough badgering."

Ryan stepped closer as he reached in his pocket and Grace looked at him, trying to hide the momentary fear as he startled her. She had to tilt her head, as he was six foot tall. She didn't shrink back though. Her spine straightened.

"Hmmm…you are a feisty one." He said with a slight grin, taking a deep breath as if smelling her. "But I can tell you're frightened." He smiled wider. Grace raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, number one, dogs go around smelling each other, freak." She continued to stare at his eyes, unwilling to back down against him. Her face became rigid. "Number two, I know what you did to those girls." She said, anger rising in her blood, which felt like fire now.

"Oh do you?" He asked. She nodded. "What do you care, you didn't like them."

"Friends." Grace said. "They were friends. And regardless of who I like, nothing gives you the right to-,"

"Everything okay out here?" Joan asked, coming up the hallway. Ryan turned his head to look at her. Grace didn't move her eyes.

"Perfect. Freakazoid was just about to hand me our keys." Grace held her hand out again. Ryan looked back at her and plucked the keys from his pocket, placing them in Grace's hand. "Goodbye." Grace said, pulling the door open. Ryan left without another word. Grace shut the door and leaned back against it. "Well now…he sure knows how to bring out the WB angst in us all. Aaron Spelling should so hire him to create a show-the mindless drones would eat it up in a second." Grace chuckled.

"Grace, are you okay?" Joan asked, walking up to her.

"Wait a minute, why didn't I think of this before?" Grace grinned. "Let's make a stereotypical TV show and get lots of money, then we can totally flop on the clichés and people will think it's funny!"

"Grace!" Joan said sternly. Grace shrugged.

"I'm fine, Girardi." She said, tossing one set of the keys to her. "Don't lose 'em or lock yourself out now." She smiled as she headed up the hallway. She tossed a pair to Adam as he stuck his head out in the hall to see what was going on. "Here you go, lover boy." She winked before entering the room she and Luke were supposed to share for a couple of months.

"Okay…I totally don't feel right about this anymore." Joan sighed, spinning around and flopping onto the bed. Adam sat down next to her as she covered her face with her hands.

"Can I ask what God wanted at the gas station?" Adam asked.

"To give me cosmic gas pains." She groaned. Adam laughed.

"Does God also supply you with cosmic Pepto?" He asked. Joan looked at him, her eyebrows all scrunched up. He smiled broadly at her and Joan couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Come here, please…" she grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him down to her so she could kiss him. Adam happily obliged.

"Hey, knock-knock Honeymooners!" Grace barged into Adam and Joan's room with Luke close behind her.

"Ah!" Adam yelped as he and Joan jumped apart startled and he ended up on the floor.

"Grace! Privacy issues much?" Joan sighed.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt the hormones, dude, but we've got empty cupboards we need to fill." She grinned. "Let's go, chop, chop." She clapped her hands and walked out, grabbing Luke by the hand to lead him outside with her.

"Sometimes, I swear she's been abducted by aliens and they've put implants in her brain. They're up in space flipping buttons to switch her moods like the tides. Or maybe it's like they're playing Simon with the switch board buttons and throwing her out of whack for fun?" Joan said as she and Adam sauntered up the hallway towards the door.

"Would that be like cosmic electro-therapy?" Adam asked.

"Ooh…good work Mulder." Joan nodded.

"I try, Scully." He replied. "What's next week's episode by the way?"

"Uhm…vampires who can't control their teenage daughters from getting knocked up by werewolves and mummies?" Joan asked as they climbed in the backseat of the car that Luke was now prepared to drive.

"I don't want to know what you're talking about." Grace said from the passenger seat.

"Mummies are such a rip-off. They're totally re-animated corpses, thus meriting the title zombie and not mummy." Luke said as he backed out of the driveway in search of a food store.

"What?" Grace said.

"How do you figure that one, genius?" Adam asked.

"What do you mean? I just explained it, man." Luke said.

"Yeah but mummies are Egyptian, yo." Adam said.

"And they were cursed dead famous Egyptians. What zombie is like cursed before mummified?" Joan asked.

"I can't believe this conversation exists." Grace shook her head.

"But it's the same principle!" Luke countered. "Dead body comes back and moves about the living causing mayhem. And, and you know voodoo, that's a curse-based zombification process there."

"Touché…" Joan said, raising an eyebrow.

"Whoa…" Grace said aloud.

"What?" Adam, Luke and Joan asked.

"Dude you guys worship a zombie!" She said, her lips curling into a grin. "That's wicked."

"What?" Joan asked.

"Think about it. You just said so. Re-animated corpse that walks around among the living causing mayhem! Jesus was a zombie!" Grace had excitedly joined the conversation.

"Did Jesus cause mayhem?" Luke asked.

"Sha…The dude walked on water." Adam nodded. "Mayhem doesn't get much better than that."

"And weren't like…something of fire over top of people's heads?" Grace asked.

"Tongues of fire, yeah." Luke replied.

"Okay one, Jesus was so not a zombie." Joan spoke up. "And two, the tongues of fire thing was so not Jesus. It was totally the Holy Ghost."

"See! If you can have Holy Ghosts, you can so have Christ Zombies." Grace put her hands up as if that was the end of that.

"I'm so confused…" Adam said.

"What does this have to do with Ryan Hunter?" Luke questioned.

"I wasn't aware we were speaking of the Devil." Grace replied. "But if we factor Holy Ghosts and Christ Zombies into the equation, Beelzebub isn't very scary is he?"

"No…no he's not." Joan agreed.

"Unnnchallenged." Adam almost sung.

"So what kind of food are we getting?" Luke asked after his stomach grumbled loudly.

"The edible kind probably, but I'm not sure yet." Joan told him.

"Ex-nay on the Pigg-ay." Grace said. Adam looked at her strangely. She shrugged. "Dude…I'm the lone Jew…" She stated.

"Ohhhhh…" Adam nodded, understanding now. Luke parked the car and turned it off.

"Finally, the country music ends." She said as they exited the car and grabbed a cart, heading for the grocery store.


	5. You Are So Beautiful To Me

**That Summer  
Rating: T-M  
Summary:** In August Joan & Adam are crossing the country to Stanford in CA, Grace & Luke are heading to Cambridge for their schools. What are their plans for their final summer before parting? Can they pull it off without their normal drama? Obviously G/L & J/A  
**Disclaimer:** If the characters were mine I'd be getting paid to write TV scripts, now wouldn't I? So…you know the drill.  
**To my two reviewers: **Thank you, for you are my heroes. To the other readers-stop being lazy readers! I'm doing hard work for your enjoyment; give me a reason to keep going, yo! ) Much love to y'all!**  
Warning: **This chapter isn't quite as funny as the other…but it is sappyyyyy…enjoy! (Don't forget to let me know if it sucks or not…cause…well, these are things an author needs to know people!)

**

* * *

Chapter 5 – You Are So Beautiful To Me**

By the time they'd finished food shopping and putting their groceries away, it was nearly noon. It was also almost 90 degrees out. All four of them were sweating.

"Is there like central air in this joint?" Luke asked, using the collar of his t-shirt to fan himself.

"If there is, we're going to have to stumble across it." Grace looked around at the walls for a thermostat but found none.

"Well, let's just make sure all the windows are open and all the fans on for now then." Adam suggested.

"And let's get changed and go to the beach already. It's time to kick back for a few hours at least." Joan smiled, she couldn't wait to get her new bathing suit on and put her feet in the sand.

"Shouldn't we, I don't know, look for jobs?" Grace questioned, still thinking about how much this place might cost to rent.

"Nah, we've got time!" Joan said with a wave of her hand. She looked at Adam and Luke, both of whom had worn their bathing suits down since they both had on long surfer swim trunks. Luke had just thrown an old blue t-shirt and his sandals on and Adam had done something similar with a wife beater.

"C'mon, let's get ready." Joan said turning and heading for her room.

"I hate bathing suits." Grace complained.

"Shut up, the one you bought when we went out is awesome, so stop being all down on yourself." She said. "Go, change." She ordered. Grace went into her bedroom and shut the door behind her. Joan crossed the hall and did the same.

Ten minutes later, Joan was banging on the bedroom door that Grace was in. "Come on Grace! It's just a bathing suit!"

"Shut up Girardi!" Grace called from inside the room. "Some of us don't want skin cancer!"

"Grace Polk get your skinny ass out here this instant, prepared to boogie on the beach." Joan demanded.

"Dude, take Rove and go to the beach. Tell Luke he can go too, I'll meet you out there!" Grace called back.

"Fine then." Joan huffed slightly. "Anymore than 15 minutes and I'm sending a search party!" She hit the door jokingly one last time before turning to Adam who was in the hallway closet pulling out beach chairs.

"I'll wait for Grace." Luke informed them. "You guys bring the chairs I'll bring down some towels and the beach bag." He assured.

"Okay…we've got the mini cooler and the radio. Don't forget to put the sunscreen in the bag." Joan warned. Luke saluted her.

"Aye, Aye." He said. Joan and Adam exited onto the deck where they left their sandals. Joan looked around the deck for a second. There was a small wooden walkway that led to the sand it was maybe ten feet long. At the end of it right before the deck were a shower and a hose to wash the sand off with after they were done on the beach and before they went into the house. The deck had a nice rectangular grill off to the right side and on the left side was a table with four chairs around it and an umbrella.

"Cozy." Joan smiled.

"Unchallenged." Adam nodded.

"Let's go." Joan said excitedly leading the way down the beach.

* * *

"Hey Grace?" Luke said from the hallway against the bedroom door. 

"What?" She called back, sounding a little agitated.

"If you don't want to wear the bathing suit, just put some shorts and a t-shirt over it or something." He suggested. The door opened and he looked at Grace.

"Way ahead of you today, brain." She offered a small smile and didn't really look at him. She had put on a pair of beach shorts and a tank top over her bathing suit. All of her visible skin was shiny, having just put sunscreen on. Luke smiled.

"Comfy?" He asked. Grace shrugged.

"I'm not a beach person." She replied.

"Well aside from the sand in the ass crack, it's not so bad." Luke shrugged. "Besides, Joan will be too occupied with the water to bug us." He smiled. "And that is why I love the beach." He said, holding the folded beach towels and with a beige beach bag over his shoulder.

"Come on, let's go get sunburn." Grace said, turning and heading for the deck door. Luke followed, shutting and locking the door behind him. "Whoa." Grace said when she saw the deck and more importantly, the view. Luke looked around.

"How did Joan swing this?" He asked.

"Hey, she's got friends in high places." Grace pointed to the sky. Luke laughed.

"Good to know." He said with a nod of his head.

"Come on…they're probably be sending out the FBI to find us if we don't get down there." Grace slid her right arm in between his left arm and his body, running her fingers down to his hand. Luke almost started at the gesture, caught off guard by the fact that Grace-his Grace-was displaying affection in public. Granted the beach was technically 'private' but that was only the block they were on. They were so close to the corner that all the other beach goers were not out of eyesight. Some were even running over into the section that was supposed to be private. Luke stared at her. She looked up at him when she went to take a step and he didn't follow suit.

"What?" She asked. A slow smile crept across Luke's face. "What, brain? What is it?" She reached up and wiped at her mouth and chin. "What? What? Is there like something on my face?" She asked, sounding a little agitated now. Luke just grinned.

"No. Nothing on your face." He assured calmly.

"Then what's wrong?" Grace asked. She sounded more concerned now than frustrated.

"Nothing…I just…was, uhm…enjoying the moment." He said, glancing down at their now entwined hands.

"O-Oh…" Grace said nervously. "Sorry, I don't know what got into me…" She coughed slightly and moved to pull her hand away but Luke held on.

"No, no. It's not a bad thing." He smiled. "Let's go." He nodded towards where Adam and Joan were setting the chairs up. Grace looked at him for an extra second before they fell in step together and headed for the beach chairs.

After they laid out a blanket, weighting it with the mini cooler, the towels and the bag in the corners, Adam and Joan decided it was too hot and they were going to go in the water.

"Okay, you have fun now, kids." Luke said as if he were an old man talking to young whippersnappers.

"Oh we will." Joan assured, walking backwards a foot or two behind Adam. "Unlike some people who won't even wear their bathing suit to the beach." She raised her eyebrows pointedly at Grace before turning around and jogging to Adam and promptly leaping up to piggyback ride him into the water as they both laughed. Grace shook her head and looked at her hands as she sat cross-legged on the blanket. She fidgeted with her hands and avoiding looking at Luke. He reached out and touched her forearm, causing her to look up at him.

"She just thinks you don't want to be out here in a bathing suit because you're self conscious." He shrugged. "I know ya just don't like 'em." He grinned and began counting on his fingers. "Let's see they're…sexist…and skimpy…and-,"

"Shut up." Grace said quietly. Luke looked at her. She avoided his eyes and glanced at Joan and Adam, joking and splashing in the waves. They were sure of themselves and they easily accepted each other despite their pasts. Grace wanted to let go of all of her issues and just be that way, but she just couldn't seem to get a grip on it.

"Hey, I didn't mean to-,"

"No." Grace shook her head. She sighed and looked at him. "It's just…I am self conscious." She mentally kicked herself for admitting it out loud. She looked away from Luke again, not wanting to see his reaction. When he didn't say anything, Grace's fear flared, and she felt the urge to slap him for not being his normal, comforting self when she needed him. She swallowed hard and looked at him for his response. His mouth was hanging open just a bit, and shock was written clearly all over his face. Grace felt herself shrug her shoulders. "What? It's a female thing…" she tried to use a good excuse. He continued to stare at her in silence. "That's it? You've got nothing to say?" Grace's paranoia kicked in. "You're just going to agree with me that the world doesn't need to see me in a bathing suit? Because I'm pathetic and ridiculously caught up in the whole chauvinistic TV slash magazine culture of today-,"

"Why?" Luke interrupted her. Grace looked at him.

"Why what?" She asked.

"Why do you feel self conscious?" He raised an eyebrow as if it was the most ridiculous idea he'd ever heard.

"What?" Grace looked at him. "Have you taken a good look at me, brain? With your new contacts in place?"

"Yeah, yeah I have." Luke nodded.

"Then why are we even discussing this?" Grace asked, leaning back and propping herself up with her hands.

* * *

"You know, you're just very sexy when you're soaking wet." Joan said dramatically. "I can't keep my hands off you!" She said, imitating a southern accent and dramatically throwing herself at Adam, looping her arms around his neck. Adam laughed as she kissed him. He picked her up slightly as they continued to kiss and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he tried to dodge the force of the waves. Joan pulled her lips off his. Adam leaned back and let them float in the water over the swells that were crashing just after they passed the couple now. Joan smiled, her forehead still pressed against Adam's. 

"You're being pretty hard on Grace." Adam said aloud. Joan turned her head sideways and looked to the beach. Grace looked agitated as she and Luke talked. Luke looked like he was shell-shocked.

"She needs to get over the whole body image thing." Joan said.

"Maybe so…" Adam kicked his legs and sent them moving slightly in circles in the water, both still holding onto the other. "But, don't you think Luke and Grace should, you know deal with that on their own without us picking on them all the time?"

"I'm not picking on her." Joan defended. Adam looked at her. Joan frowned some. "Okay maybe it might come off as picking on her. But, she knows I'm just clowning. I mean come on Grace has said some mean stuff back in her time." Joan reasoned.

"She has changed a lot though, Jane." Adam shrugged. Joan bit her lip and looked at Grace and Luke again.

* * *

"You're kidding me, right?" Luke asked. 

"About what, smartass?" Grace asked. Luke looked at her in realization. Luke sat up, crossing his legs and inching himself closer to her. He reached out and put his hand on her right arm.

"Grace…" He said so she would look at him. Grace's head didn't move but her eyes slowly made their way up to his and then she couldn't tear them away. She could feel her eyes burning and she clenched her jaw slightly to try and avoid the tears she could feel pooling. She was annoyed at her hair that was hanging in her eyes and she wanted to reach up and move it but was too paralyzed with fear about the next words to come out of Luke's mouth. "God, you're serious…" Luke sounded astonished. Grace glared at him momentarily. "Grace, come on…you can't be serious…"He swallowed hard. "Okay, you are serious." He frowned as he looked at her. "I can't believe, that you honestly have no idea how beautiful you are." He refused to look away from her.

Grace's head swung up, shocked. She was speechless. Though she knew that Luke was crazy about her, Grace's image of herself had been set long ago, by the ramblings of a drunken mother, and the 'cool kids' at school, etc. Those kinds of thoughts, memories and actions lead her to build her walls up. Granted, she had taken great strides in the past couple of years to open up herself to her friends, and Luke especially.

"I'm…I'm what?" She asked. Grace was positive she had just imagined Luke had said those words. Luke reached his hand up to Grace's cheek, even though he was pretty sure she would pull away since they were outside and Adam and Joan were so close by. Surprisingly, she didn't. Instead, Grace just stared at Luke, intently.

"Beautiful." He cleared his throat. "I said…I can't believe that you, the most stubborn, intelligent, strong willed person I know…has honestly, no idea how beautiful you are."

Grace couldn't think of anything to say back to Luke. He just smiled at her. She did the first thing she could think of doing. She forgot about Joan and Adam, and all the other people near by. Her hands went to Luke's face and pulled him to her, placing her lips upon his.

"And that's one small step for Luke." Adam snickered.

"And one giant leap for…Grace-kind?" Joan asked as they made their way out of the water. Both of them laughed as they walked. They took their time for Grace and Luke's sake. Both Grace and Luke had separated by the time Joan and Adam reached their spot on the beach. Joan went to get a bottle of water. Grace flushed slightly licking her lips. She saw something sticking out of the beach bag and leaned over to grab it.

"Sooo…who wants to play soccer?" She stood.

"I'm in." Luke stood.

"Me too, yo." Adam nodded. Joan shrugged.

"I guess that means I am too." She said, completing the distant square the others started forming as they passed the ball.


	6. Walk Tall, Through This World

**That Summer  
Rating: T-M  
Summary:** In August Joan & Adam are crossing the country to Stanford in CA, Grace & Luke are heading to Cambridge for their schools. What are their plans for their final summer before parting? Can they pull it off without their normal drama? Obviously G/L & J/A  
**Disclaimer:** If the characters were mine I'd be getting paid to write TV scripts, now wouldn't I? So…you know the drill.  
**To my two reviewers: Sam – **Thanks for reviewing. If I can ask, what was it about chapter 4 that made you have to read it a couple times to get a feel for it? P.S.-Yeah I kinda figured you were a G/L person, but psssst…me too! **TJ – **That's for the compliments my friend! And too **American Idiot –** I'm glad you came out of being lazy for a chapter, thank you! I appreciate it!  
**To all other readers, whether you've reviewed in the past or not: THANK YOU! Sorry for the review guilt trips but, like I said I want to know if I'm still going strong or starting to wane and flake out as I go on. I need YOU to tell me that because let's face it people, I'm a bit biased! Thank you again for reading! Much love to y'all!**

**

* * *

Chapter 6 – Walk Tall, Through This World**

"Rise and Shine! It's breakfast time!" Joan called out into the hallway from the doorway of the kitchen.

"I over slept." Adam frowned as he darted into the kitchen, trying to yank a wife beater over his head, holding his work shirt in his hand.

"What time do you have to be in?" Joan asked as he reached around her and grabbed a waffle, leaning in to kiss her quickly before he took a bite of it. He sat down in a chair to tie his shoes and the words that escaped his full mouth were nothing more then mumble.

"Say what now?" Joan asked. She leaned out to the hallway again. "GET UP YOU GUYS!" She pounded the wall with a smile.

"Ten minutes." Adam said after swallowing.

"What?" Joan turned her attention back.

"I have to get there in ten minutes." He stood back up, finishing his waffle and chugging a glass of orange juice.

"Do you want the car?" Joan asked.

"No, I'll make it." He said. He stopped a minute and looked her up and down. "That's the uniform?" He raised an eyebrow, looking at her blue bikini with the letters OCBP printed on the left side of the top. She had a pair of short blue track shorts over them with the top rolled over a few times. The back had the letters OCBP on them as well. Joan shrugged.

"Hey, you've gotta have a swimsuit on if you're going to stop someone from drowning." She smirked.

"I can honestly say I didn't think you'd get a lifeguard job." He grinned. Joan put her hands on her hips.

"Hello, I'm totally all about the protecting and serving, here." She said. Adam put his hands up.

"Okay, Okay, you win." He nodded. "I have to go." He kissed her once more and then jogged out of the house, sprinting up the block.

"HEY! I SAID UP PEOPLE!" Joan banged on Luke and Grace's door again, smiling to herself as she went back into the kitchen.

* * *

"Dude…your sister's going to get it soon…" Grace mumbled, her face buried into Luke's bare chest. Their covers were tossed aside, both almost sticking to each other since no one had uncovered the elusive thermostat yet. The fan hummed as it spun above them. 

"Yeah well…I'm probably going to be late." Luke mumbled, still half asleep. Grace sighed and lifted her hand from where it was resting across Luke's abdomen, and used it to rub the right side of her face while she inhaled a deep breath, letting out a sigh. She glanced at the clock.

"It's 6:03, brain." She murmured.

"Ah-ha…27 minutes." Luke muttered. Grace heard Joan bang on the door for the third time and she groaned.

"I'm going to strangle you Girardi!" She yelled out. Her head jostled as Luke laughed at her.

"My arm's asleep…" Luke said. Grace frowned slightly. She forced herself to sit up. "I didn't mean that you had to move. I was just stating a fact." Luke smiled slightly. Grace ran her hands through her hair and rubbed her face, trying to brush the sleep out of her brain.

"Well we can't have you mowing lawns and operating those gardening machines with a numb arm now can we?" Grace asked, looking back at him as he put his hands behind his head and took a deep breath.

"Soooo…how exactly did Joan rope you into becoming a lifeguard?" Luke asked. Grace lightly pushed Luke at his ribs as she got out of the bed.

"Let's not go there." She frowned.

"Did it have to do with the big guy upstairs?" Luke followed her into the bathroom as she prepared her toothbrush. He stood behind her as she started brushing her teeth and he wrapped his arms around her, leaning down to leave a couple of kisses on her shoulder and at her neck. Grace squirmed slightly, but didn't push him away.

"Nu-uh." She shook her head no as the toothpaste started foaming while she brushed. She let her eyes watch him in the mirror. He was looking down and letting his eyes follow her hands, which were tracing lines at her waist and along her free arm, which she had let lay across one of his arms when they'd circled her. She studied him. His shaggy hair was in his face, just a bit longer than he used to keep it, and he had learned to keep it messier, sometimes doing nothing but running his hands through it with gel and letting it dry. It wasn't completely blond. In fact normally it looked like muddy river brown, laced with lines of yellow. Now that he'd been out in the sun so much in the past week and a half, his hair was looking more and more blond each day. Of course this could have also been an optical illusion, considering all the working outside had started Luke down the path of a nice tan. Grace tried not to smile to herself as her eyes roamed down and spotted the white tan line separating his torso from low on his waist where is boxers sat against his hips.

"So it wasn't G…then what was it?" Luke asked suspiciously, catching her eye in the mirror. "Blackmail? Could it be?"

Grace rolled her eyes in response and leaned down some to spit out her toothpaste and rinse her mouth out. She turned around when Luke loosened his hold on her and tilted her head to look up at him.

"I promised to try new things didn't I?" She asked him, just a tiny hint of her sarcasm faithfully shining through. Luke let a half smile creep across his lips as his hands, which were on her hips, pulled her an inch or two closer to him. He nodded slightly.

"Yes you did." He leaned in for a kiss. Grace placed her hand on his chest to steady herself as she leaned up to meet his lips. They pulled apart when Joan knocked on their door again.

"She's a dead woman…" She backed away from Luke, a slight grin on her face. "And by the way…you totally need to brush your teeth." She pinched her nose and wrinkled her face up as she back towards the bedroom door.

"Oh…shut up you!" He tossed a hand towel in her direction and laughed. He watched her head for the kitchen.

"Girardi…you got five seconds to hide!" She called as she rounded the corner. Luke laughed and turned the water on to brush his teeth.

* * *

"Want some fruit?" Joan asked innocently from her spot at the kitchen table. She had her feet up on the seat as she leaned back eating cantaloupe. Grace sighed and stretched before walking over and pulling a piece out of Joan's bowl. "I should warn you that there's-," 

"Dude!" Grace cut her off, making a disgusted face. She grabbed a napkin and spit the piece of fruit into it before throwing it out. "Who eats salt on cantaloupe?" She asked, hanging her tongue out in disgust momentarily as Joan snickered and shrugged.

"I do?" She said aloud. "We have until 7:30 by the way."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know." Grace waved her hand and nodded her head as she opened the fridge and searched for something to eat.

"It's going to be great you'll see." Joan assured, popping an orange slice into her mouth. "We sit in the sun all day and watch people swim, how hard could it get right?"

Grace stood up, a perplexed look on her face. "Girardi…" she shook her head as Joan looked at her. Grace put her hand up and shook her head again. "Never mind. I'll remind you of that when we have to save some unfortunate schmuck from drowning cause he drank too much and thought it would be funny to body surf in a rip tide." She sat across from Joan with the box of Cap'N Crunch. She put her right leg up and rested her right hand over it, holding it while using her left hand to dig in the box and pull out handfuls of the cereal to eat.

"Sounds like you speak from experience…" Joan commented, an eyebrow raised encouragingly. Grace looked at Joan, not sure what to say now that she'd stuck her foot in her mouth. Luckily Luke had saved her. He had entered the kitchen wearing a pair of worn-out khaki cargo shorts that had a couple of tears making the bottom edges fray, and a pair of all terrain sandals strapped to his feet.

"Good morning ladies." He grinned as he walked to the fridge and poured himself a glass of orange juice.

"I can't believe you're working with a landscaper." Joan snickered. "How did you snag that?"

"Well, just because I can use science to use equipment…don't fault me for it now." He smiled.

"I don't want to know how that equation goes." Joan held her hand up as if to stop Luke as she rinsed her bowl and put it in the dishwasher. "I'm going for a jog before work." She looked at Grace. "I'll meet you at headquarters." She said with a pat on Grace's shoulder as she passed her on the way out of the kitchen. Grace nodded, holding just a cup of coffee in both her hands now. "Have fun trimming hedges, dork." She grinned and left out the back door. "By the way it's one of your turns to cook dinner!" She called to them.

"That was not an analogy I wanted to picture." Grace said, shaking her head. Luke sat down across from her.

"Oh come on, me in nothing but shorts with some electric hedge clippers, covered in sweat in the sun…" He wiggled his eyebrows up and down. "You know you just can't reasonably resist it." He finished his orange juice and set the cup down. He grinned when Grace was just staring at him. "What?"

"Did you really just say that?" She asked. Luke got up and put his cup in the dishwasher.

"Do you want to cook tonight or should I?" He asked.

"Let's go out somewhere, who feels like cooking?" Grace wrinkled up her nose.

"I'll find somewhere to go after work then." He shrugged. He glanced at the clock. "Feel like helping me with the sunscreen?" He asked. Grace stood up and took the tube of sunscreen and started to cover Luke's back. When she was done she started for the bedroom.

"How much longer do you have?" She called back to him.

"Ten minutes before he gets here!" Luke called out to her.

Grace quickly began to change. Once she had the same blue bikini on that Joan had been wearing, she stopped putting sunscreen on and looked in the mirror. She grimaced slightly and sighed.

"How in the hell did I get myself into this?" She asked. She grabbed the track shorts and tank that she had been issued and pulled them on before she went back out to the kitchen. Luke smiled.

"OCBP indeed." He said.

"Could you get my back?" Grace cheeks flushed pink as she asked it. Luke nodded and walked up behind her.

"Uhh…Grace…you've gotta take the shirt off for this." He told her. Anxiously, Grace reached for the hem of the tank top and pulled it over her head. Luke put sunscreen on his hand and reached out to put it on Grace's back. "Sorry." He apologized when her back arched and her muscles tensed because of the cold lotion.

"S'all right." Grace said quietly.

"It's not that big of a deal, you know." He told her when he was done and she put the tank back on.

"What's not?" She asked, leaning back against the counter. Luke stood in front of her.

"We discussed this fifteen times since we got here, Grace." He said.

"Well, when I get out there and I'm hot enough maybe I'll take this stuff off. It's early, it's not that hot out yet." Grace defended herself.

"I wish I could be there to watch you hit the first guy that mouths off to you cause you're hot." He grinned. Grace's cheeks flushed again.

"Shut up, brain," she lightly smacked his chest. They heard a car horn from outside. Luke sighed.

"Off to work." He said. "Good luck." He smiled. He was about to walk away but Grace grabbed his arm and kissed him.

"See you later." She said. They heard the car horn again. Luke smiled.

"Gotta go, Hank's waiting." He kissed her quickly once more before jogging out of the house. Grace went to the door to watch him go. Luke climbed into the back of a pick up truck that had a trailer full of lawn mowers and gardening equipment attached to it. There were three other guys around his age already in the back of it. One of them whistled at Grace.

"Damn kid, how the hell did you, get that?" One of them asked. Luke smacked him upside the back of his head.

"Don't be staring at my girlfriend man." He smiled at Grace and waved. "She'll kick your ass, man."

"Yeah, sure." He said as Hank began to drive away. Grace rolled her eyes and went back inside.

* * *

"How was your run?" Grace asked as she and Joan arrived at the section of the beach they were supposed to watch for the day. Each put their belongings in the little holder space before climbing up the wooden structure to sit atop the bench. 

"It was very nice actually. There weren't many people out. The water's warm too." Joan smiled. "How was the rest of the morning?"

"All right. Two of the guys Luke works with need a swift kick in the pants." She smirked. Joan laughed.

"What?" She asked.

"Oh yeah, they pulled up and I was saying goodbye, waiting for them to pull away. Next thing I know one's whistling, one's being a pig, and the other one's drooling and Luke's slapping them upside the head." Grace explained.

"Luke? Slapping someone who isn't Friedman?" Joan asked, almost wide eyed. "Now that's impressive."

"Yeah well…" Grace replied. Joan watched her for a minute. Grace was taking this job a little more seriously than Joan was. Grace had her sunglasses on and was scanning the beach and the water for any problems at all, a stony expression across her face as the ocean breeze cooled their skin in the already sweltering heat. Neither of them spoke much for the next two hours.

"I don't know how you're wearing extra clothes, it's exhausting out here." Joan wiped some sweat off of her forehead; glad her hair was pulled back.

"I know." Grace said. In truth she was pretty warm even though they had opened the umbrella on their lifeguard stand in order to try and keep a little cooler. Her shirt was wet with sweat and the shorts weren't exactly helping either. "Why do parents have to buy their kids boogie boards? Do they want to annihilate their children?" she asked. She lifted the whistle that was hooked tightly around her neck and blew it until the kids looked up. Grace stood up on the foot ledge and waved them in until they were far enough in that she could tell their feet were touching the sand under the water before she sat back down.

"I don't know. I think they realize the danger," Joan said. Grace glanced at her, intrigued for Joan to finish. "But I think they just rely on the lifeguards should injury occur." She nodded.

"Wonderful." Grace muttered.

"You really don't like the beach do you?" Joan asked.

"Girardi…" Grace warned.

"Hey, I'm just asking." Joan put her hands up in innocence.

"Bad memories." Grace answered. She sighed and finally gave in. Reaching for the hem of her shirt, she whipped it up and over her head before she could second-guess herself. Her shorts came off next before she stowed them under the seat. Joan could think of a couple of remarks to make, but she stalled herself, not wanting to fuel Grace's self-esteem issues. Grace felt Joan's eyes on her and she sighed, still watching the water. "Go ahead, Girardi, say what you're thinking."

"Oh, no…wouldn't dream of you know, getting into your business." Joan tried to hide the smile threatening to overtake her face. She already knew what Grace's reaction would be. Grace laughed almost hysterically.

"Oh yeah, right. A Girardi staying out of someone's business? HA!" She replied. A smirk covered her face. She didn't look over at Joan, just kept watch over the three boys who were watching her, inching further and further back out in the water after every wave they rode in. Joan watched the other side, looking for anyone who might need help. "I was ten. We went to Myrtle Beach. My aunt lives out there. My Dad had stayed home to work. My aunt was lying on a blanket and I was making a sandcastle-," Grace stopped when Joan snickered.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She waved her hand. "I just can't picture you making a sandcastle." She smiled.

"I know." Grace nodded. She sighed. "My mom had been drunk from the night before still, and that's not counting the three hours of drinking she did before we got to the beach. I was trying to ignore her singing, and obnoxious responses to people looking at us funny. My aunt turned to her and said, 'regardless of what's going on in your family Sarah, you should let your daughter have a good time for once.'" Grace said sarcastically imitating her aunt. "And my mom said she was going for a walk and got up, stumbled down towards the wet sand to walk. The next thing I know, there are lifeguards coming from other towers besides the one we were near, racing into the water. My aunt, and me we went and gathered with the crowd to see what was going on, and out comes two lifeguards, carrying my mother to the beach. She'd gone in the water and nearly drowned. She'd started to get sick and then a wave hit her and she inhaled water and probably vomit too and got stuck in a rip tide. They had to put her on a backboard and carry her up the beach to an ambulance." Grace turned her head from the water to look at Joan. "I haven't been to the beach until this summer, since then." She said. Grace had washed all emotion away from her face. Her jaw was set and Joan was pretty sure that Grace was glad she had sunglasses on to protect herself from bearing her soul too much more than this. Grace turned her head back. "Oh come on!" she stood up and whistled at the boys in the water again. They looked up at her and put their heads down, moving in towards the shoreline disappointedly.

"I'm sorry Grace." Joan said when she sat back down. Grace shrugged. "Why then…did you agree to come with us?"

"Well, the fact that everyone else, including your brother was coming helped. I mean I don't like to follow the crowd but without anyone at home to escape to, well, that would suck. And being nearly 4 hours away from my mom is helpful too. I don't think I would have been able to make it through the summer between her drinking and Dad never being home because of her drinking." She reasoned. Joan nodded slowly.

"Understandable." Joan said. Grace sighed. She stood up. Joan gave Grace's shoulder a little shove. Grace glanced at her. "I'm glad you came with us." She smiled. "And I'm glad we help when you need it." She winked. Grace let herself smile and nodded. She cleared her throat.

"I'm going to go out there and bring them in closer." She grabbed a red can and put the strap around her shoulder, holding the handle.

"You teach those boys." Joan nodded encouragingly, knowing it would be easier for Grace to yell at the three boys to behave than if she were to do it.


	7. At The Stars

**That Summer  
Rating: T-M  
Disclaimer:** If the characters were mine I'd be getting paid to write TV scripts, now wouldn't I? So…you know the drill.  
**To my two reviewers: youcrazything – **You're right, I made Luke a little more sure of himself and Grace a bit less because I looked at it as, time passed, people get used to each other. And Grace, in my opinion of watching the show, is insecure, which is why she's so pushy, angry and standoff-ish because if you build up you know walls when you feel that way, how else can you act but on the defensive all the time? The reason she's showing that side though is because of the whole letting people in part-did that make sense for you? I hope so! The finding out about big G is coming up soon, I promise! P.S. you're not stupid, but thanks for reviewing! **Laura - **Thanks for the reappearance my friend! I agree with the G/L hint, and thanks about the G/J interaction, I felt kind of shaky on it when I was writing it. **poeticrebel – **glad you like it. P.S. I hope you're planning on updating your untitled story!** Sam – **Yeah, yeah, I know I know! So sue me...! I'm working out the kinks here! ) Thanks for letting me know about chapter 4. You'll find out probably next chapter what Adam's doing for work. As for the science stuff I was thinking about that before it was brought up, and I'm going to try it, and I have some good ideas to throw it in that people I think will like but don't blame me if it backfires! Science is not my gig. **KJFlygirl87 – **Hello Kirsten, thanks for the faithful reviews, dude! I know, the whole lifeguard thing is odd for Grace but I figured I could see her yelling at kids in the water better than waiting on someone in a restaurant or working at amusement rides or games. Although I did think her working on the boardwalk could be hilarious.  
**To all other readers, whether you've reviewed in the past or not: **Okay, so there are 80 people, including those who reviewed that read chapter 6 at the time that I am writing this. And there have been 1,130 overall. Number 1, thank you, that totally feeds my ego like mad. Number 2, those who didn't review feel the wrath of my guilt trip! Review! Anyone who reviews me gets my reviews, by the way. Number 3, sorry for the guilt trips, I'm horrible. Number 4, thanks for sticking with me through the story. I hope you're enjoying it!

**

* * *

Chapter 7 – At The Stars**

"You know you're in a routine when you don't need an alarm clock to know that it is 5:30 a.m. precisely." Grace muttered. She knew Luke was awake because of his breathing. She knew that when he fell asleep it was slower than when he was awake.

"How long have you been up?" He asked into the morning light that was peering through the blinds of the window as some wind rustled through the window. Luke and Grace were in what they considered their normal position now. Luke was splayed on his back, with his left arm out across the bed and his right hand resting on his stomach on top of Grace's.

Grace was lying on her stomach, with the right side of her face resting in Luke's collarbone, neck and chest area. Her left hand was draped on his abdomen with his hand over top of it and their legs were tangled up in a jumble. It was hot enough most of the summer so far not to have the covers on them, although a couple of nights warranted a good snuggle under the covers even if Grace wouldn't admit it. Both tan bodies were clad in the least bit possible amount of clothing. This of course meant Grace was tortured with the heat just slightly more than Luke, sleeping in his spaceship boxers that she'd stolen months ago from him and a tank top while he was in a pair of boxers. This had been their sleeping arrangement for the past three weeks since they'd come to the beach.

"About ten minutes." She replied. "You?"

"About the same." He replied.

"Wanna go for a walk?" Grace asked out of nowhere. She felt Luke move his head and knew he was looking at her, so she turned her head and looked at him. Luke smiled.

"You know, I think I do." He replied.

* * *

"Did you hear that noise?" Joan shook Adam awake. Adam grunted. 

"It's not time to wake up yet, Jane." He muttered.

"Adam!" Joan shook him.

"What? What? I didn't do it!" Adam sat up quickly. Joan stifled her laughter.

"Sorry…" she said, giving him her best innocent look when he looked at her pointedly.

"What's wrong?" He asked her.

"Nothing, I just heard the door. I think Luke and Grace went out back." She shrugged. "Guess it woke me up." She said. Adam laid himself back, holding his arms open for her. Joan laid herself down against him and he stroked her hair as she nuzzled herself close.

"When's your brother coming?" Adam questioned quietly.

"Uhm…he's supposed to get here with Lily at…" Joan glanced at the clock. "Noon…or one. I think." She said aloud.

"Will someone be here to meet them?" He asked her.

"I think Luke's done at 11 today. Hank's going away from July 1st until the 7th, so Luke has off from work that week. And Grace took off the 1st, 4th, and 5th. I have the 3rd and 4th. So Kev and Lily will only need to occupy themselves for two days before one of us has off." Joan rambled.

"I have off from the 1st to the 4th." Adam told her. "How's the…leg…exercise thing going for him?"

Joan laughed. "He's got feeling in his right foot according to mom. Lily caught him rolling his ankle cause he said it was stiff."

"That's awesome." Adam yawned. Joan smiled. She leaned up and kissed him.

"Go back to sleep." She laughed. Adam nodded.

"Okay." He said quietly. Within a minute, he was breathing slow, rhythmic breaths and Joan knew he was asleep. It only took her a couple of minutes listening to his heartbeat to fall back asleep herself.

* * *

"And that one there, is the North Star. Which you could probably figure, most people know that it's the brightest one up there. Some people confuse it with planets sometimes. And right now it's Polaris but it won't always be that one because it hasn't always been that one. It's temporary, which is kind of ironic if you think about it because it's supposed to be a constant." Luke rambled as they walked. 

"I find it amazing that you can make stars boring sometimes." Grace interrupted, smiling only slightly. Luke shrugged.

"Just another part of science." He said. "I guess they mean more than just balls of gas to some people though."

"So how does it feel?" Grace changed the subject, walking along with Luke. Her right arm was twisted around his left arm and her right hand entwined with his left. Their fingers laced together. The beach was empty. The run was coming up over the horizon. Luke and Grace hadn't bothered to change much. Luke had thrown his work shorts on and Grace had tossed a T-shirt on over her tank to guard against the ocean breeze, which was only slightly cooler than their room.

"How does what feel?" Luke questioned, looking over at Grace. "I thought you liked to walk in silence?"

"Well, sometimes words are nice I suppose-as long as there's no science metaphors in there." She reasoned before moving on. "And I meant, how does if feel to, you know…the whole…uncle-to-be thing?" She asked.

"Ohhh, right, that." Luke nodded. "Yeah see, I'm still confused as to how anyone would want to marry Kevin let alone after only 4 months of dating." He said.

"Yeah…really." She snickered. "But is it like, exciting or…some other adjective like that?"

"Why the curiosity in Kevin and Lily's baby?" Luke asked. Grace shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm not sure." She looked at the lapping waves of water as she walked. "It's just kind of sudden I guess. This past year, last summer. Everything changed so quick."

"Well…just a couple of things really." Luke said. "I mean, it's nice to not think Joan's crazy anymore." Grace snickered.

"Who said she wasn't crazy?" She asked with a smile.

"Okay…but you know what I meant." He said. Grace nodded. "Well, what else?"

"I don't know." She shrugged slightly. "Kevin and Lily getting married and now the baby is kind of strange. I mean, I can't really look at him without thinking of the time Rove knocked him out of that chair. And you're right it is hard to believe someone wanted to marry him, let alone bare his child-and only after such a short amount of time. I mean how long have we been…you know, and you don't see us going crazy like that." She babbled. "And then there's you know...Hunter…the freak, screwing with everyone. Oh!" She snapped her fingers. "And you know…Rove and your sister actually getting back together."

"That actually took longer than I expected." Luke interjected.

"Are you kidding me?" Grace asked.

"No, I'm not. It did. I mean any normal couple would have never spoken again yeah, but Joan and Adam are by no means normal." Luke mused. Grace stopped their walking and looked up at him. She used her free hand to point at him sternly as she spoke.

"Let me tell you something, brain, just to clarify if I haven't since the whole…Rove-Bonnie sexcapade, okay?" she looked at him pointedly, her eyes squinting. "So help me if you do something like that…" she didn't have to finish her sentence. She knew that he understood what she could possibly fill in that blank space with.

"I wouldn't dream of it." He said before leaning in to kiss her as if that sealed the deal.

"Good." She said when she pulled away. "Let's get some grub." She said when they pulled away and Luke's stomach growled.

"Sounds good. Waffles?" He asked.

"Mmmm…no way. I'm so going for the scrambled eggs." She grinned.

"With cheese?" He asked, pulling his left arm free and wrapping it around her shoulders.

"Oh hell yeah." She nodded as she looped her right arm around his back, along his waist as they headed back for the house.

* * *

"Ahoy there matey!" 

Joan looked down from sitting atop the lifeguard stand when she heard the bubbly voice. She grinned widely.

"Lilly!" She gracefully leapt off of the stand and to the sand where Lily promptly hugged her. "How are you? Is it noon already?" She asked.

"Actually it's almost one." Lily told her. "And I'm excellent, although I miss my coffee…"

"Hey there's always decaf, sista." Joan said as both of them laughed slightly at the reference.

"Where's Grace, Luke said she works with you, right?" Lilly asked. Joan turned to the water.

"She's yelling at a surfer." Joan pointed.

"Oooh…" Lilly felt sympathy. "I hope he did something to deserve it in that case.

"If you count nearly taking a 10 year-old's head off deserving, then yes he did." Joan replied.

"Yeah, see, that does deserve Grace's wrath then." Lilly nodded in agreement.

"So where's Kevin and Luke?" Joan asked. Her eyes widened. "Oh my God, I completely forgot about finding a way to get him down on the beach! I'm so sorry! I'll get Grace to cover for me and we'll figure something out. I'm such a putz!"

"Joan. Joan!" Lilly put her hands on Joan's shoulders. "Breathe, child!"

Joan took a deep breath, putting her hand on her head. "Sorry. I panic." She shrugged.

"It's okay. We've solved the problem." Lilly assured. She turned and pointed. Luke was holding the handle of a thick plastic wagon and pulling it down the sand. Joan and Grace had only been one lifeguard stand over from the private beach so it hadn't been a far hike at least, to get to them from the back of the house-at least not as far as it could have been. Kevin was seated in the wagon, with his legs splayed out straight, cheering Luke on to 'mush' as if Luke was a dog-sledding team. He had some chairs and a blanket, beach bag and towels in his lap as Luke dragged him.

"Luke borrowed the wagon from your neighbors' kids for 5 bucks each." Lilly chuckled. Joan laughed.

"Don't have all the fun without me now." Grace approached, wrapping the rope back around her orange can and hoisting it up to its holder on the stand. She shook out her hair and ran her hands threw it.

"Looked to me like you were having plenty of fun telling that guy off." Joan indicated the surfer who was walking up the beach with his surfboard now and his head hanging dejectedly. Grace snickered.

"Next time he'll look where he's surfing and then he won't feel guilty for almost beheading a kid?" She replied. "So…what's going on?"

"Hello to you too Grace." Lilly smiled. Grace nodded.

"Where's your counterpart?" Grace asked.

"Using Luke as a personal chauffer." Joan pointed out. Grace smirked.

"Now why didn't I think of doing that?" She asked.

"I just wanted to come say hello ladies." Lilly nodded. "I'd better go save Luke before Kevin gets too carried away." She grinned.

"Looks like it's too late for that." Grace pointed to Kevin and Luke's general direction. Where Luke tried to pull the wagon out of a ditch and succeeded in tipping it too far. He dove to try and catch it but the wagon flipped and Kevin and Luke were now laughing and making fun of each other as they tried to rectify their situation and save themselves some embarrassment now that everyone surrounding them was staring and gawking. The girls laughed.

"Let's go help." Joan said.

"You two go. I'll stay and watch the tourists." Grace said. Joan and Lilly headed off and Grace climbed back up on the stand.

* * *

"So how does this work?" 

Grace glanced down and saw someone leaning on the lifeguard stand. His short black hair was slicked back and he was still wet, having recently come out of the water. She rolled her eyes under the sunglasses she had recently put back on and looked back out at the people in the water.

"How does what work?" She asked, unenthused.

"Well, do I have to drowned to get you to give me CPR, or would dinner be enough?" He asked. Grace looked at the man. She saw his orange tinted tan, his athletic build, and his gold necklace and felt the sudden urge to vomit.

"Save it, cream puff. Just walk away. With the tail between your legs, dude." Grace replied, looking away from him.

"Aw come on now, you have to at least give me a fair try." He persisted.

"Do I now?" Grace said rhetorically, not bothering to look in his direction.

"Yes. I'm Josh. What's your name?" He asked. When she didn't reply, he continued. "What have you got to lose?" He asked her.

"My lunch?" Grace muttered.

"What's that?" He asked.

"I'm not interested." She told him.

"I find that hard to believe." He all but flexed his muscles for her.

"I'm sorry for your disillusionment?" Grace retorted.

"Come on, I know you find me attractive." He gushed about himself. "And you know you're not so hard on the eyes yourself…" He trailed off, looking at her expectantly.

"You're right, I'm not." Grace said, still scanning the water. "You however, are making me nauseous. Now could your take your senseless macho, 'I'm-so-hot-for-you' piggish babble somewhere else, like say to some pom-pom wielding Britney Spears wannabes who might actually get a kick out of your narcissistic overtones and your fake tan from a bottle, stuffed-Speedo look?" Grace finally looked at him. Josh looked perplexed. "What, was that too many new words for you? I'll sum it up. Go, away." She said.

"Ohhh…so you're one of those girls." Josh said. Graces shoulders dropped and her head bent down, as she sighed, not in the mood. "I mean hey it's okay with me." Josh shrugged. "I could find someone else here on the beach for you and we could go back to my hotel and-,"

"You have got to be kidding me." Grace sighed to herself. She looked over the edge of the stand at Josh.

"I'm sorry that you're trying to overcompensate for your small penis issues dude, but seriously, the sexuality crap has to stop or-,"

"Or you'll what?" He challenged, not taking her seriously. Grace's jaw set.

"All right that's it." In one swift jump she landed in the sand in front of him. "I'll give you three seconds to go back to wherever you came from or you'll be coughing up sand for a week."

"What's the problem here?" Joan asked as she came back to the lifeguard stand.

"It's village idiot contest day and we've won an annoying visit from the winner." Grace indicated Josh.

"Hey you little lesbo, there's no need to get snippy-,"

"Oh that's it," Grace cut him off as she lunged for him. Joan had the unfortunate duty of stepping in to stop Grace as Josh backed up a step. "Girardi, you'd better rethink your position on this. Fido needs to be neutered there."

"Do you want to get fired?" Joan asked her quietly. She waited for Grace to calm down enough and then let her go. Then she turned to Josh, making sure to stand between them still. She crossed her arms.

"I'm going to have to ask you to resume your beach going activities away from the stand, sir." Joan said, trying not to roll her eyes or make any unnecessary faces at him.

"Oh, is that so? And why can I stand everywhere else on the beach except here?" He asked. Grace scrunched up her face, balling up her fists at her sides.

"Because you're interfering with our jobs and if someone drowns while we're standing here contemplating what could possess you to fit into a Speedo with orange skin, and a big gaudy gold chain, I'll make sure you get charged with manslaughter because it will be partially your fault." Without waiting for a response, Joan turned and climbed back up to her seat. Grace raised her eyebrow, intrigued and followed Joan up the lifeguard stand to sit down.

"Forget you." Josh said, turning and leaving.

"Never a dull moment." Grace muttered.

"At least it's not completely boring." Joan replied.

"So what are we doing for dinner?" Grace changed the subject as they looked out at the water again.

"Apparently, Kevin, Luke and Lilly all decided we were going out to dinner. Apparently they found a place and made reservations before coming out here." Joan replied.

"Where?" Grace asked.

"Not sure but knowing them it's probably Italian." Joan told her.

"Bah…you Italians and your garlic." Grace mused. Joan gave her shoulder a playful shove.

"Oh shush, you know you love it." She smiled.

"Naahhh…" Grace smiled slightly shaking her head unconvincingly.

**

* * *

A/N**: Someone brought up the issue of how long this would be. I'm not sure how long this story is going to go. I'm trying to let it just go where it goes on it's own out of my head so that I don't limit myself on the story's potential. Out of curiosity though, how long (chapter wise) do you think I should make this? Let me know in your review (Hint, hint).


	8. Celebration

**That Summer  
Rating: T-M  
Disclaimer:** If the characters were mine I'd be getting paid to write TV scripts, now wouldn't I? So…you know the drill.  
**Reviewers:** The stars thing wasn't the part I thought everyone would like. Actually that's going to come in chapter 9, so be prepared, it's going to be hilarious…or at least partially funny. Hi Ange. **Sam – **I know the Kevin and Lilly thing was different, but hey, I like to spice it up! **Laura – **In the episode where Rocky dies and they're in the garage and Joan is trying to tell Adam about his dream but he's pissed. Kevin grabs his arm; he goes to storm out and tips Kevin over. Season 1. I forget what the name of the episode is. Also, I wanted to have her go after him, but…well maybe in the future!  
**A/N – Sorry for any typos, it's late and I just can't proofread now. But hey they could wind up being really funny typos! This chapter could be a little confusing, but it will get clarified…at least I think so, but I'm the one writing it, so…let me know how awful it is will you?**

**

* * *

Chapter 8 – Celebration**

"Mom, we're fine! No-Yes-No-MOM!" Joan just about shouted into the phone, frustrated. "No. Mom I've got to go were going to be late for dinner." She said as she rummaged around for her other earring. "Yes. I promise we're behaving. No mom, there haven't been any huge parties here. Yes, we're being very careful. Mom I've got to go." She said again. "Okay. I love you too. Tell daddy I love him. All right. Bye mom." Joan finally hung up.

"Hey, almost done, Jane?" Adam came into the room. Joan sighed and put the cordless phone, leaning back against the dresser.

"I think so." She looked around, trying to figure out if she had everything she needed.

"Luke and Grace gave their room to Kevin and Lilly for their stay." Adam said. "Luke said it'd be better because of the bathroom."

"That's a good idea." Joan said absently. She looked up at Adam, who was standing with his hands in his pockets. A grin crept across her face and she giggled slightly, covering her mouth with her hand. "Come here…" She signaled him over with her index finger. Adam stepped over to her, placing his hands at her waist. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Joan leaned in and kissed Adam. When she pulled away she ran a hand through his hair and then traced back to try and pull something out of it. "There's paint in your hair…" She said with a smile. Adam's eyes glanced up even though he couldn't see it and then went back to her eyes.

"We did some ceilings today." He grinned sheepishly.

"Oh, I see." She nodded slowly before patting his hair back down.

* * *

"You don't have to give up your room for us you know." Kevin said in the living room. Adam had gone to get Joan and Lilly was finishing up putting her make-up on. Luke was seat on the corner seat of the couch, with Grace's legs across his lap as they waited for the others. 

"It's not that big of a deal, r-really." Luke said, his voice almost cracking. Grace looked at him curiously for a second, and then turned to Kevin.

"Yeah, we've got the rest of the summer to use it, dude." She nodded. Kevin nodded.

"Thanks, you guys." He smiled slightly. Adam and Joan sauntered out into the living room, followed moments later by Lilly. "Okay," Kevin rubbed his hands together. "Who's hungry?"

"Oh definitely. Bring on the garlic." Luke said as he and Grace stood up. Luke followed Kevin to the door. Grace looked at Joan, who laughed, thinking of their earlier conversation. Grace held her hand out towards look as her proof.

"See! Proof!" She said. "Guidos are obsessed with garlic."

"Hey, hey now," Joan said. "Don't let my dad hear you calling us guidos."

"Yeah, can you imagine that?" Kevin snickered. "He'd probably lecture you for three hours about the Godfather." Everyone laughed.

"There are nuances!" Kevin, Joan and Luke imitated their father together, getting another round of laughter out of everyone as they piled into Kevin's station wagon. Luke and Grace climbed into the back with Kevin's chair, and Adam and Joan sat in the backseat.

* * *

It only took about 15 minutes to get to the restaurant. The entrance and waiting area were packed so it took a few minutes to get through to the hostess so that they could get seated. The hostess crossed off their name and led the way out onto the deck of the restaurant into the farthest part of the patio/deck section. After everyone was situated they ordered something to drink and started looking over the menu. 

The deck area of the restaurant was just about as big as the building of the restaurant itself. The tables all lined the wall for three quarters of the deck, leading up to a dance floor. A house band was performing cover songs and a few couples were dancing, having gotten a few drinks in them and feeling brave.

Joan and Lilly were caught up in a conversation about baby clothes, ultrasounds and hormones after everyone had ordered. Adam was busy staring at his all of the metal around him, using his fork, knife, spoon and anything else he could to create a makeshift sculpture. Kevin took a sip of his drink as he tried to entertain a conversation with Luke. Grace was watching this interaction with amusement. Every time Kevin would bring up a sports analogy that confused Luke, Luke would offer up a scientific one that confused Kevin.

"It's good to know you'll never give up on the scientific mumbo jumbo no matter how old you get, littler brother." Kevin said, ending another analogy war.

"Hey, at least I don't use baseball metaphors as a, like, way of life." Luke replied. Kevin looked at the amused look on Grace's face as she watched them.

"What, you think this is funny?" He challenged her with a grin.

"Oh, yeah, I'm laughing so hard, if I drink anything, it's just coming out my nostrils." Grace said dryly.

"Now you see, at least we know Grace will never change either." Kevin said.

"Well perhaps one day I'll throw you a curveball." Grace said.

"Ohhhhhh!" Kevin and Luke threw their hands up.

"Luke…come to the darkside with us!" Kevin said in his best Darth Vader voice.

"Okay number one, that's so old it's like, it's stale, Kev." Luke began, using his finger to talk.

"And two?" Kevin asked.

"A-A curveball, is science my friend." He said. Grace rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on!" Kevin said, exasperated.

"Boys, boys." Grace held her hands up to stop them. "I was simply using terminology that Kevin here would understand." She said innocently. Kevin put his hand over his heart and feigned pain.

"Oooh, ow, that one hurt, sister." He said. Grace chuckled at him. He looked at Kevin. "A curveball is so not science by the way."

"Are you kidding? Factoring in momentum, velocity, negative and positive air flow, weight, leverage and-,"

"Okay! Okay!" Grace put her hands up.

"A curveball can be thrown by a spectacular athlete, whatever that is graded by, and at the same time perfected by a science nerd, if given the right equation-truce?" Grace interjected. Luke and Kevin thought about this for a moment before both of them nodded in agreement.

"Truce." Both said at the same time, looking at each other.

"Kevin-sorry to interrupt you guys-Kevin, tell Joan about your foot and what the doctor said?" Lilly said, putting her hand on Kevin's shoulder, pulling him into the conversation at the other end of the table. Adam was now paying more attention to the conversation, curious to hear more. Luke sighed slightly and took a drink of his water.

"Ohhh, and what was that slightly dramatic under your breath sigh about?" Grace asked from next to him.

"It amazes me how quickly this family can ignore me." He stated.

"Well, you did have a nice long analogy war." Grace pointed out. Luke made a face.

"Yeah, I know. It's hard to explain." He looked at her. Grace offered a tightlipped smile.

"No it's not. I've been watching it for quite a while now." She told him. "But hey, I'm not ignoring you." She gave his arm a slight pat. Luke offered a pitiful smile. Grace was trying to think of something to say to salvage the awkward moment when they realized what song was playing. Luke looked at Grace and she couldn't help it as slowly a grin spread across her face.

"Talk about good timing." She muttered. Luke chuckled as the band sung the first chorus of Kool & The Gang's "Celebration."

"Hey, don't pick on our song." He shot back. Both of them shared a good laugh, which caused Grace to put her forehead down on his shoulder as she laughed and tried to regain her composure before the other noticed and asked what was going on. "We should totally go dance." Luke suggested.

"Ohhh, no way hot shot we are so not going there tonight, brain." Grace sat back in her chair.

"Oh come on, live dangerously." Luke mused.

"Living dangerously is skydiving, or mountain climbing without ropes, and white water rafting-not, I'm happy to say, dancing." Grace snickered as she took a drink of her soda. Luke was about to reply when the waitress came with the appetizers everyone had ordered for the table.

"More than one event of good timing a night…" Grace raised an eyebrow. "This can't be good."

"Must be a full moon tonight." Luke said.

"Don't blame our good fortune on the solar system, brain." Grace said, taking a mozzarella stick and dunking it into a cup of marinara sauce before taking a bite of it. "We make our own luck." She winked at him after she'd swallowed the food. After she finished her sentence she stuck the tip of her thumb in her mouth to get some stray sauce, and used her elbow to give Luke a love tap on the arm as he grinned at her.

"Does anyone else think this needs more garlic?" Kevin asked.

"Totally." Joan nodded.

"It could use a little bit more." Luke replied.

"You've got to be kidding." Grace said.

"I don't like garlic." Adam commented.

"You must be a vampire then." Lilly said. Adam looked at her for a moment.

"That would be so cool, yo." He said seriously.

"No way, you'd miss all the fun during the day. And you'd be very pale too, with all that lack of sun." Joan wrinkled up her nose.

"And don't forget the lack of the all important vitamin D those bright warm rays give us." Grace sarcastically gave a thumbs-up sign.

For a few minutes everyone was quiet, filling their stomachs with mozzarella sticks, bruschetta, and tomato salad.

"So. Mom wants me to make sure you kids are behaving." Kevin almost sung to them, rubbing his hands together. "They don't want any surprises when they come to visit on the 4th." He looked at them, trying to read them. Joan groaned and rolled her eyes, covering her face with her hands. Adam lightly breathed on his spoon before hanging it from his nose, lost in his own thought.

"I told her yesterday everything was fine." Luke shrugged. "What more can we offer?"

"You know mom, she's had enough drama for a lifetime with me." Kevin slightly rocked his chair back and forth to emphasize his chair.

"Why does everything have to be about you?" Luke asked before he could stop himself. Everyone looked at him.

"I was just making a point, geek. What's the big deal?" Kevin asked as if nothing had happened. In truth everyone else couldn't figure out what the big deal actually was. Grace knew this was something that had been building in Luke from years of always being last. She wished he could have picked a better time to let it burst forth, though.

"I wonder how long the entrees are going to take." Grace said trying to derail the staring contest that between Luke and Kevin now. She looked at Joan and Adam for help.

"Oh…OH! Yeah…let's totally take a dollar out of that chick's tip. Or something." Joan said.

"Isn't it the chef's fault?" Adam wondered aloud.

"What's your problem?" Kevin persisted, looking at Luke.

"My problem is…is that i-if you're not the subject of every sentence…t-then the world is spinning off its axis and the apocalypse is just a-around the corner." Luke stuttered as he spoke, feeling nervous now.

"Back off, dork, you don't know what you're talking about." Kevin warned.

"Oh I don't do I? Who ever forgot your bi-birthday? When did mom and d-dad ever _not_ bend over backwards to p-pacify you?" Luke asked pointedly.

"Where is this coming from?" Kevin asked, getting angry. "And let me tell you Dad did not baby me for one second." Kevin pointed with his finger as he spoke.

"Okay guys, that's enough." Lilly said, putting a calming hand on Kevin's arm.

"No. It's not enough." Luke said. "It never is with Kevin. Is it?" Luke looked at his brother pointedly. Kevin seemed to know what the look meant. His eyes widened slightly.

"Don't, Luke." He said. Grace put her hand on Luke's arm.

"Hey, come on, let's dance." She blushed at the look Joan gave her. Luke looked at her.

"What?" He asked. "I thought you didn't want too?"

"Just, come on." Grace nodded towards the dance floor, grabbing his hand as she stood. Luke followed her, still in shock. Joan looked at Kevin and then at Lilly.

"Oh…uh…Adam why don't we go dance too." She said, patting his shoulder and standing up. Adam looked at her and then Kevin and Lilly and back at Joan.

"Oh. Okay." He stood and followed her.

* * *

"So…" Grace said once they were dancing. Her right arm rested about Luke's left shoulder and he held her left hand in his right, close to his chest and rested his left hand around her waist, looking down at her as they swayed. 

"I'm sorry." Luke sighed before she could finish her thought. Grace studied his face, trying to assess the situation. "What are you thinking?" He asked, almost afraid to know the answer.

"You stuttered." She said.

"What?" Luke asked.

"I'm thinking about how I only hear you stuttered and trip over words and sentences around your brother and your dad." She said. "Why is that?"

"I…don't know?" Luke said.

"What, no hypothesis?" Grace asked with a tiny smile. Luke smirked.

"I'm sick of being last." He said. "I'm sick of always having to impress them to get noticed." He frowned.

"Who says you have to impress them?" Grace asked. Luke chuckled nervously.

"In my family? It's unspoken. Of course if it doesn't involve a ball of some kind and contact with people cheering in the stands, then I'm doomed to fail forever." He replied. Grace frowned, looking somewhat pissed.

"Are you really going to sit here and self deprecate yourself because you're not the kid who's into sports?" She asked him. Luke opened his mouth to speak but Grace continued. "Because I've got to tell you, brain…that's pretty dense. Especially for someone of your intelligence."

"You think so?" He asked. Grace nodded.

"I know you think they ignore you, but honestly, they don't." Grace looked at him and smiled. "Sure…they tend to let their minds wander when you spout off equations and probabilities and all that stuff, but that's because it's not our thing." She shrugged. "Just like you doze off listening to Kevin's sports analogies and commentaries. And just like you hate listening to Joan talk about what in her life is confusing her on a daily basis. Or when you want to tune me out for talking about-,"

"I never tune you out." Luke cut her off. Grace snickered.

"Sure…" She smiled slightly. She looked back at him after blushing slightly. "So…are you feeling better now?"

Luke nodded. "Yeah…" He took a deep breath. "Thanks."

"Hey…forgettaboutit." Grace attempted to use her best accent as she made a face and said the comment with a shrug of her shoulders. Luke laughed with her.

"That was weak." He said. The song ended and Luke and Grace looked at each other, a little awkwardly, staring at each other. "I guess we should go sit down." He cleared his throat. Grace nodded.

"Yeah." She said. They walked back over to the table and at down. Luke began to stumble over an apologee and Kevin did the same. The waitress brought out their food and then went to refill some of their drinks.

"Miss, those two men at that table sent this over for you." The waitress put a glass on the table in front of Grace. Grace froze, staring at it. "It's a scotch on the rocks." She said. "One of them said if it was too strong for you, he knew CPR too." The woman said, assuming Grace knew what it meant. Grace's jaw set as she looked over to see a table with Ryan, Josh and two other guys at the table. Grace's jaw set tightly. "I can take it back to them if you'd like, miss?"

"No. I'll take care of it. Thanks." Grace said. The waitress walked away. Grace threw her napkin from her lap down onto the table.

"Slimey, no good, scum sucking little, horned toad maggot." She said as she took the glass and stood, heading for the table.

"Grace, wait." Luke followed her. Joan looked over and frowned, wide-eyed.

"Uh-oh." She got up to follow.

"What the hell is going one with everyone?" Kevin asked confused.

"You think this is funny?" Grace asked, looking from Ryan to Josh.

"We can't give a sexy lady a drink?" Ryan asked.

"Relax, it's just a drink." Josh shrugged.

"Just a…" grace shook her head, taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm down.

"All right, that's enough." Luke said. "Both of you, you especially, Hunter, need to get out of our business and leave us alone." He cleared his throat.

"I was simply being kind." Ryan smiled knowingly. "Go on Grace a little taste won't hurt will it?" He grinned. Grace scowled.

"You can take it back." Grace said before dumping the cup upside down in Ryan's lap. "Have a nice dinner." She smiled and turned, going back to the table. "Could you get this wrapped up for me, I'm not hungry. I'll be in the car." She turned on her heel and left.

"Ditto that for me." Luke said to Joan, who only nodded before Luke went after Grace.

"Care to explain what's going on here?" Kevin looked at Joan and Adam expectantly.


	9. Brace Yourself, With All That You Have

**That Summer  
Rating: T-M  
Disclaimer:** If the characters were mine I'd be getting paid to write TV scripts, now wouldn't I? So…you know the drill.  
**Reviewers: Sam – **Oh I didn't mean to sound like I thought you didn't like the Kev/Lil intro! Thanks for the clarifying though, that was nice! And I totally know all about the garlic…I'm Italian. ) Mmm yummy goodness. You know in season one when Will says he orders pizza and all at once they all say "extra garlic" that's my house. And yes…a sandwich is like an opera. **poeticrebel – **Glad you enjoyed Grace's attack. Keep reading, I'm thinking there's more of that to come-it could be surprising. **KJFlygirl87 – **Hey Kirsten, how are ya? It's cool about the dog thing. Ironically enough, a few months back I did lose one of my dogs. Thanks for the review, keep reading, the competition will be heating up…though maybe not necessarily between Kev and Luke. **Kristin – **I have to say I'm a sucker for G/L too, which is probably why there's so much of it in here! ) Thanks for catching up! **Jane And Adam – **Thanks for the review! I'm trying to hurry back, yo, I swear!

**A/N: This will be my last update until the end of the weekend; my family and a couple friends are going to New Orleans for the weekend. Fun times! Happy Father's Day to everyone's dad! Much love to all my readers! Have a great weekend! Sorry for typos, did a quick proofread because I have to finish packing. Let me know about any major mess ups and I'll fix them when I get back! **

**

* * *

Chapter 9 – Brace Yourself, With All That You Have**

"What time is it?" Luke said as he inhaled deeply. He had opened his eyes, momentarily dazed, and fond that he'd been lying down on the couch with his head in Grace's lap.

"'bout two am." Grace said quietly. Luke rolled onto his back and looked up. In the dim light that was still on in the dark room, she had a notebook. She was chewing on the cap of a pen, every few moments, as if a great idea struck her, she reached her hand down to the notebook that was on the arm of the couch and started scribbling something in it.

"What are you writing?" He asked her.

"Nothing of importance." She finished the sentence she was writing before shutting the book and tossing it to the table. She leaned her chin down on her left fist as she rested hre elbow on the arm of the sofa and looked at him. Absently she reached her right hand out and ran it through his hair a couple of times. "Guess you didn't like the movie huh?"

"What?" Luke asked, confused.

"You fell asleep fifteen minutes in, brain." She said with a small smile.

"Oh. Right…Guess I was just tired." He shrugged. "Why didn't you wake me up so you could go to sleep?"

"I was in no hurry. I have off tomorr-well, today, anyway." She commented. "Besides, everyone else went off after the movie. It was nice to have some quiet when I was actually awake for once." Grace made a face with a slight grin. "Of course, that was before somebody started snoring like a chainsaw…"

"I don't snore!" Luke said, forcing himself to sit up now. Grace almost frowned, feeling colder now that he'd shifted his body, but she concealed her sadness with a slight snicker.

"Oh trust me, you do." She said as he shifted down to sit closer to her.

"I know I don't." He grinned. "I stayed up one night to listen. I didn't snore."

Grace rolled her eyes. "Ohhh…and who taught you that one?"

"That would be Dad. He used it for about five years when I was younger and mom complained about him snoring." Luke nodded.

"Oh, so it's genetic." Grace grinned. "I feel bad for you when you have kids, brain. You'll hear snoring over the monitors all night long."

"Babies don't snore." Luke said.

"If they've got you and your dad's snore gene they might." Grace continued.

"Well then I guess we'll make fun of it when it keeps us up all night." Luke commented. Grace stared at him. "What?" He asked.

"When, uh, when did I get put into that equation?" She asked, still stunned and at a loss for a snappy comeback.

"Oh. Uh…I don't know." Luke swallowed, nervous about her reactions. "Just a thought." He shrugged.

"Right…" Grace cleared her throat. "All right, this would be a great awkward moment to go get something to drink, you want something?" She stood.

"No. No thanks." He said as she crossed the room. Luke picked up the remote and started flipping channels. "Good job genius…" He mumbled to himself with a sigh.

* * *

Grace opened the fridge and grabbed a can of Dr. Pepper. She opened it and poured it in a glass for herself. She was going back to the living room when she decided she would go and look at the beach for a minute or two, to think about what Luke had just said. She went to the back sliding door and crossed her arms, taking a sip from her cup after a minute. She looked to the left of the deck and started slowing scanning towards the right. That's when she screamed, and dropped her glass, startled. 

The glass shattered, but Grace was in too much shock and panic to realize that a piece of it had lodged into the top of her foot. Within seconds of her scream and the crash of the glass, Luke was next to her.

"What? Grace what's wrong?" He asked as Joan and Adam stumbled sleepily into the hallways followed by Lilly, and then after a moment, Kevin.

"What's going on?" Joan asked. Grace was pointing, slightly shaken.

"There was…" she looked at them and then back out the door, still pointing. "I saw…He was."

"Who was?" Kevin asked, wheeling closer to the door and trying to look past everyone and outside.

"He-He was right out, outside." She said. Luke put his hand on her arm.

"Who was?" He asked her.

"Ryan." She said. "He was outside. Looking in here. From the end of the wooden walkway." She said.

"Grace, you're bleeding." Adam pointed out. Everyone looked down and they saw Grace's foot.

"Joan, Lilly, why don't you take Grace into the kitchen and clean that up." Kevin suggested. He looked at Luke and Adam. "And we'll check out outside, see if he's still sniffing around."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Joan said. "Come on Grace, hobble this way."

Grace let them lead her to the kitchen, hopping and hobbling so that she didn't bleed too much all over. Kevin, Luke and Adam turned on the outside lights and went out.

* * *

"This is just what mom and dad are going to love about coming out here today for the Independence Day festivities." Luke frowned. Kevin snickered. 

"So kids, what did you do last night?" He mimicked his mom. "Oh nothing, ma, just searched for a prowler. Specifically, the man who weasled his way into everybody's lives to try and destroy Joan, but other then that, just food, fun and sun!"

"Hey, there's footprints here, yo." Adam said, pointing to the wood on the deck. It looked like someone with wet boots had walked in the sand and then on the deck. Kevin and Luke went over to look at them.

"come on out you pansy!" Kevin yelled.

"KEV!" Luke said in a harsh whisper. "What if he's armed or something?" He said desperately.

"He's too much of a sissy to brandish a weapon, kid, relax." Kevin said.

"What if he really is the devil and he's got like magical, evil powers to use on us or something?" Adam asked. Obviously he thought he was still asleep. Kevin and Luke just looked at him. "What?" He asked.

"He's not out here anymore if he was." Kevin shrugged. "Let's go back in and just make sure everything's locked for now."

"Is that all we're going to do?" Luke asked as they headed for the door.

"That's all we can do if we can't find him out here man." Kevin said.

"Maybe she didn't really see him." Adam suggested. "It is late." He said. Luke frowned. He didn't think Grace would hallucinate something like that.

* * *

"I wasn't seeing things." Grace said as Joan scrunched up her face and helped Grace disinfect her foot after they tool the piece of glass out. 

"Of all people, I believe you, Grace." Joan assured with a small smile.

"So which one of you is Mr. Hunter stalking?" Lilly asked, opening the First-Aid kit and pulling out some gauze.

"Yuck." Grace and Joan said at the same time, thinking about Ryan watching them without them knowing. Kevin, Luke and Adam entered the room.

"The coast is clear." Kevin said. Adam chuckled at the irony and literal meaning of the sentence. Grace caught the look she was getting from Kevin and Luke.

"I'm not seeing things. He was out there." She said sternly. "Ow." She jerked her head over and looked at Joan.

"Sorry." Joan said innocently. "Hey, we've got to clean it." She shrugged. Grace frowned and looked at look.

"I wasn't seeing things." She said. Luke nodded, walking over and sitting next to her.

"I know." He said, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We found bootprints."

"Look, he's gone anyway. We should just relax and spend the rest of the morning sleeping, because mom and dad will be here at…" Kevin looked at the clock. "9 am."

"Good idea." Lilly nodded, rubbing her stomach and yawning. Grace noticed this.

"Oh…uhm. I'm fine. You guys go on and head back to sleep." She said. Joan lingered for a moment. "Go, Girardi." She pointed.

"You sure?" Adam asked. Grace nodded. Everyone left but Luke.

"You can go to bed, I'm allright." She lied, trying to figure out how to get the gauze successfully around her foot.

"Here, let me help." He took it from her and knelt in front of her.

"I'm not crazy you know." She said. Luke snickered.

"No, that's Joan's department, I know." He said.

"Luke…There's something I've got to tell you." Grace said.

"No, Grace, it's all right. I didn't mean to freak you out. I just kind of came out." Luke shrugged as he attached medical tape to the gauze to hold it in place. Grace put her hand on the side of his face.

"I…didn't mind it that much." She cleared her throat, turning a slight shade of pink. He was about to speak up. "Drop it," she warned. He nodded. "That's not what I was going to talk to you about though."

Luke looked at her, confused. "Then, what?" he asked, not moving from his spot.

Grace bit her bottom lip slightly, taking a deep breath.

"This is about what you said to him before hey gave you the keys to the house, isn't it?" He asked her.

"What?" Grace questioned, wracking her brain to remember what he was talking about.

"You said you knew what he did to those girls." Luke replied. Grace's eyes widened slightly. Then she closed her eyes, pushing her lips tightly together. She nodded slightly.

"Okay…I should have seen this one coming." She took a deep breath again. "I do know what he did, yeah."

"What did he do?" Luke asked. "And to who? Did he do something to you?" Luke began to stand. Grace put a hand on his chest to calm him down.

"Relax!" She said sternly, but quietly as he pulled a chair to face her and sat down. "It doesn't matter to who right now. And it doesn't even matter what he did specifically, okay?" Grace sighed. "It just matters that I know what happened and it's not happening to any of us." She said in a resolved tone, crossing her arms.

"Grace, seriously…if he did anything-," Luke began. Grace smiled slightly at his protective nature coming through.

"Relax, brain." She said. "I promise." She shook her head. "He didn't do anything to me. You would know if he did." She said.

"Yeah…he'd probably be castrated." Luke said, sounding calmer.

"Ew, I don't want to picture Ryan naked, much less looking like an anatomically mutilated Ken doll." Grace stuck her tongue out disgusted.

"Let's clean up the floor and go to sleep." Luke suggested.

"Sleep? Who the hell could sleep now?" Grace asked as she stood, raising her foot to walk on her heel. She almost lost her balance but Luke caught her.

"Okay, bad idea. Better one." He steadied her. "You got sit on the couch and find something to watch, I'll clean up and bring us some soda and snacks?" he suggested. Grace nodded.

"Now you're thinking." She said, balancing herself on the counter to the doorway and then making her way to the living room.

* * *

"You shouldn't be lurking around people's houses so late at night, Ryan." A voice said as Ryan stood up the street from the beach house, staring at it. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. He turned around to see a large, bald headed man that had a black t-shirt on with the words "security" across it. He was a few inches taller than Ryan and had his arms crossed, with a leash on his wrist. Ryan snickered as he looked at the tiny Chihuahua attached to the leash, yapping at Ryan. 

"God should get a tougher dog for that persona." He suggested, crossing his own arms.

"You should be more concerned about your own existence instead of everyone else's-mine especially." Big bald God said calmly. His voice reminded Ryan of Hulk Hogan.

"Well, I would do that, except you expect me to constantly stick my nose in other's people's business." He said, turning to walk. Big bald God followed.

"I haven't been asking you to do anything, Ryan." He said. Ryan looked at him. "You've been doing things on your own for quite awhile. In fact, I'm here to tell you to stop before it's too late."

"Stop what before it's too late for what?" Ryan asked. There was fire in his eyes.

"If left alone for too long, Ryan…a soul can whither an die, like a plant without water." Big bald God said as they passed a wilting flower. Ryan laughed.

"Riddles it is." He laughed. "So should I water myself? If I go for a swim, will my soul find it's way back?"

"You know, Joan doesn't get the free will thing, that's all right. You can't grasp metaphors very well." Big bald God shrugged. "Only you can stop your soul from wilting, Ryan." He said before turning around and giving a wave as he continued up the street. Ryan stared after him, still fuming.

"I never liked you! From the beginning!" He screamed out to Big bald God, who just kept walking. Ryan looked back at the house. His jaw was set tight and if he had been a cartoon, his eyes would have glowed red and steam would be coming out of his ears. A wicked smile spread across his face. "Brace yourself, kiddies…things are about to heat up." He said. He lingered for another moment before shoving his hands into his pockets and turning down a street to walk away.


	10. In Your Eyes, I Am Complete

**That Summer  
Rating: T-M  
Disclaimer:** If the characters were mine I'd be getting paid to write TV scripts, now wouldn't I? So…you know the drill.  
**Reviewers: Audrey F., Jane and Adam, and sayxanything – **thanks for the reviews! Glad you're still interested 9 chapters in. I'm glad to see you on your edge of your seats so to speak to see what happens. Sorry about the drought for the weekend, I was away! Hopefully this satiates you.  
**Everyone: Thanks for reading! Like I said if you don't review but you think I'm doing something wrong or out of character, I'll never know! Tell me what you like. Tell me what you hate! I need to know to make this the best I can! I'm thinking this will continue for another 3-5 chapters bout or around. After that maybe a sequel…or maybe not. It depends really on how I take this story. What do you think? How much longer, chapter wise, should I continue? Let me know!  
A/N: This is going to be a weird chapter. Some of the characters might seem a teeny bit ooc, but not too much and for reasonable reason! Let me know if it sucks. I made it a little longer to make up for my weekend absence! Enjoy! Sorry for Typos!**

**

* * *

Chapter 10 – In Your Eyes, I Am Complete**

"Hey, brain." Grace said, putting her plate in her lap and sitting down next to him on the blanket he's spread out on the beach just 10 feet from the end of the walkway that led to the deck. She put the plate in between them as she faced him and set down a soda can. She unfolded her hand to reveal two forks that had been wrapped up in a couple of napkins.

"What's all this?" Luke asked her.

"You've been sitting over here for an hour and a half." She gave him a fork. He looked at the over packed plate with two burgers, two hot dogs, potato salad, pasta salad, chips, and slices of watermelon. She finished a chip and smiled at him. "I figured if you were going to avoid your family, I could at least keep you company…and I know you. You're probably starving by now." She said. Luke was about to protest but the smell of the food made his stomach lurch and growl. Grace smiled, knowing he would relent. She held the fork out to him as she chewed a mouthful of potato salad. Luke took the fork gratefully and Grace reached out to open the soda can.

"Thank you." He said to her after he took a bite of a hot dog. Grace nodded, chewing her food. She swallowed and prepared for another bite.

"So, why are we avoiding today?" She asked. Luke looked back over his shoulder. Kevin and Will were exchanging manly shoulder punches as they each held a beer while Will barbecued and bantered about sports. Helen and Adam were looking at each other's sketchbooks and discussing lines. Lilly and Joan were refilling the cooler with soda, and searching for more napkins while discussing baby clothes, toys and books.

"One of these things is not like the others." He almost sung, before finishing his hotdog. Grace watched him. "You want the other hot dog?" He asked. When she didn't answer him, he looked at her. She was studying is face as if it held the answers she was looking for. "What?" Luke asked nervously. Grace shook her head slightly back and forth.

"You do realize that removing yourself from their presence means that you take away the ability for them to include you right?" She asked him. Luke looked at her strangely. The idea that he was causing his own invisibility was new to him. Grace could see from the look on his face that the idea disturbed him.

"I…I never thought of it that way…" He cleared his throat. Grace nodded.

"Perspective brainiac." She winked at him. "It's all relative…something scientific that you get better than me." She shrugged. Luke leaned himself closer to her and kissed her.

"We'll go back over after we finish eating." He assured. Grace could see that he still seemed edgy about the idea, but at least he was willing to give it a shot. She nodded.

"All right." She said, grabbing another burger as Luke delved into his second hot dog.

* * *

"So, are we all ready?" Will asked, rubbing his hands together. 

"I think so." Joan replied, tying a sweatshirt around her waist. The wind was picking up and she knew she'd be cold later.

"Let's go then!" Will said excitedly as he left through the front door.

"I've never seen a grown man get so excited about fireworks." Grace said as she and Luke picked up the rear. They locked the door and followed the group. Helen and Will were discussing houses as they passed; which ones they liked, which ones they hated, and which ones had ugly landscaping. Lilly and Kevin were joking and Kevin pulled her into his lap, sitting sideways, so she didn't have to walk since she was complaining about her back hurting. Adam was giving Joan a piggyback ride at the moment and they were laughing about some intimate joke as they went. Luke was just watching, glancing at Grace every now and then as they walked. Grace slide her arm between Luke's arm and body and looped her arm with his as he walked with his hands in his pockets. She quickly leaned in and kissed his shoulder so she wouldn't have to lean to her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. Luke smiled and tried not to laugh at her. A small smile played on her lips.

"Soooo?" She asked.

"So what?" He replied.

"So, do you feel better now?" She asked, her face mixing between concern and victory. Luke blushed some as he smiled.

"Yeah, somewhat." He nodded. "Thanks for the point of view."

"Hey, it's what I'm here for-to oppose your point of view." She elbowed him playfully. Luke lifted his arm and rested it around her shoulders, pulling her closer. For a moment he was surprised she didn't pull away at all.

"You're definitely here for much more than that." He placed a kiss on the top of her head.

"Oh yeah?" She asked, looking up at him as they walked. Luke nodded. "What's that?"

"When I figure it out I'll tell you." He grinned, teasing her. Grace pushed him playfully.

"Nerd." She crossed her arm, acting like she was offended.

"Rebel." He replied.

"Like that's bad." She couldn't help but smile as they continued a small elbow fight until he wrapped his arm around her again and they continued to follow the group towards the pier where they were going to walk around and watch the fireworks.

* * *

Joan had glanced back and witnessed the exchange between Grace and Luke as she walked side by side with Adam now. She looked forward and put her head on Adam's shoulder again. 

"So…" Joan began.

"I don't like the sound of that." Adam said just as quietly.

"I saw your letter from Bonnie." Joan cut right to the chase.

"Jane-," Adam began.

"Wait, before you say anything." Joan cut him off. "Just know I didn't read it. I just saw the envelope. I trust you." She said, a little unsure of herself. Adam sighed guiltily.

"I can't imagine how you could." He looked at her. "But, nothing is going on." He said at the look that crossed her face. "I mean it," He said. "I could never be that stupid again." He sighed.

"That's totally all the past Adam. We've totally moved on from then." Joan nodded. After a moment of silence she spoke up again. "So…can I ask what she wanted?"

Adam nodded, knowing that the question had been coming. "She wrote about Ryan Hunter." He said. Joan lifted her head up at this.

"What?" She asked.

"She said he was there to visit her. He was asking questions about me and you." He told Joan. "And Grace too."

"Why?" Joan asked with a confused look.

"She didn't know. Just said to be careful and she hopes everything is okay." He said. "And she got a puppy. She said it was to protect her, but she has to train it first."

"Oh." Joan said. She was still stuck on the Ryan Hunter part. "Do you think he's going to try and get to us again?"

Adam snorted. "Sha...I think he already has, Jane." He looked at her. "I mean look at what happened last night."

"Yeah…" Joan sighed. "This is getting really tiresome."

Adam only nodded in response, putting his arm around her reassuringly.

* * *

"Don't you think we should tell your father about what happened this morning?" Lilly asked as she used Kevin's shoulder for a pillow while he wheeled them along. 

"Nah." Kevin shook his head. "Let them have a vacation for once. They're only here until tomorrow."

"But, your dad would want to know." Lilly said, feeling guilty.

"Yeah, but it'll only make mom demand for them to come home. They're doing pretty good on their own. They can handle it. They've had worse over the past couple of years." He said confidently.

"Maybe." Lilly shrugged.

"What about Isabel?" Kevin suggested.

"What?" Lilly replied, looking at him. He glanced at her.

"If it's a girl?" he successfully changed the subject.

* * *

"Well the house was pretty clean." Will said, hoping Helen's nerves had calmed, seeing that the kids had everything under control. 

"Yes, it was very tidy." Helen remarked as they held hands. "Do you know why Grace is limping?"

"Grace is limping?" Will asked obliviously. He made a move to turn around and look but Helen stopped him.

"Don't make it obvious." She chided. Will looked at her, confused.

"She probably just hurt herself running or something." Will excused.

"Maybe." Helen said, concerned.

"Honey, we talked about this." Will said to her. "We're not going to make up and find reasons for them to come home." He told her. "You promised. They're growing up just fine and living together on their own just fine."

"I know…" Helen sighed. "It's just hard to let it happen."

"I know." Will said, putting his arm around her and patting her shoulder as she put her head down. "I know.

* * *

After twenty minutes, they were on the pier, meandering through stores and just passing the time as the sun went down and they waited for the fireworks show. Lilly was pushing Kevin's chair now to give his arms a break. They were waiting in line for ice cream with Joan and Helen. Will and Adam were talking about people who were walking by and making jokes. Grace noticed a store and took Luke's hand, excusing herself and him to go look inside. Luke lagged behind her slightly as they entered the store. It was one of those mystical places. It had incense, weird stones and rocks, astrology stuff, calming CDs, crystals, charms and strange things. Luke snickered. 

"What are we doing in here?" He asked as Grace turned a rack of necklaces.

"Why not? It's better than just standing around waiting for everyone to get ice cream right?" She asked. She looked at the silver chains, inspecting them closely. After a few minutes she unhooked one. "Here. This would look cool." She said.

"I don't think it's your thing, Grace." He smiled. "Besides I like the one you always wear." He indicated the leather chord around her neck with its familiar silver weight on it. Grace shook her head as if Luke were dense as she paid the cashier for it.

"I meant on you, genius." She said, handing it to him. Luke looked at the plain silver chain. He was surprised at Grace for the second time that night. He didn't think she saw items and trinkets in stores and thought about him. Not wanting her to be offended and n ever do such an act again, and feeling slightly touched, he took the necklace form her and hooked it around his neck. Grace reached up and situated it correctly.

"There." She pointed into the mirror. She was right; it did look pretty cool on him. "See."

"Thanks." He smiled and took her hand as they left the store, making sure to kiss the side of her head quickly before they caught up to the others. They weaved in and out of people as they walked towards the part of the pier they thought they'd see the fireworks the best from. It was the deck of a bar and grille. They were all seated together with drinks and some desserts in front of them. Unfortunately, it was karaoke night.

"They should not let people do this." Grace groaned.

"It is pretty funny how bad they are." Joan snickered.

"I could totally do that." Luke said.

"Oh please don't!" Kevin shook his head as he sipped his beer.

"Hey, just cause I'm a science geek doesn't mean I can't sing." Luke said defiantly.

"Famous last words." Grace said.

"I'll bet you each five bucks that I can do karaoke better then anyone in this place." Luke challenged, confidently. It was Grace's turn to be shocked. Not only was Luke willing to sing in front of a bunch of strangers, but he was proclaiming it confidently in front of the family he was usually timid and nervous around.

"You're on Jimmy Neutron." Kevin slapped a five dollar bill down.

"Now, now kids, there's no need to do this." Will said calmly.

"What, you think you're the only one in the family who can sing, Dad?" Luke asked.

"Whoa…boy wonder finally gets his guts." Kevin laughed. Adam looked at Luke.

"Hey…if you get nervous…try picturing people in their underwear, yo." He suggested, putting his money in. Luke glanced at Grace with red cheeks and grinned.

"Not me, horndog!" she shoved his shoulder, not bothering to conceal the grin that crossed her face. She flushed more when Helen gave them both a questioning look.

"Five big ones, with your name on them, geek." Joan added her money. Luke stood as Helen finally relented and added her money. Lilly and Grace soon followed. Luke went over to put his name in and pick a song. Then he rejoined the table to wait for them to call his name.

"Up next, everybody welcome returning favorite, Ryan!" The host said into the microphone as the karaoke contest continued.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Grace sighed as they all looked up to see Ryan Hunter stepping up to the microphone. He took it off of its stand and moved the stand back.

"Thank you, thank you." He nodded at the applause. "This one goes out to a special young friends in the audience." He grinned at their table. Grace shot him a dirty look, and so did Joan, Luke and Adam. Familiar music to an old song began to play. Ryan's grin never faded but the way he angled his head, he looked like pure evil, wickedly crooning to an audience mostly filled with people who didn't know his true nature. Grace caught his gaze and she glared hard at him. He just started singing. "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of…wealth and taste." He crooned brilliantly, staring at Grace, knowing she held secrets of his that she was afraid to share with the others. "I've been around for a long, long years…stole many a man's soul and faith…" People were clapping and singing along from their seats. He grinned, wicked and reveling in the state of panic Joan seemed to be in and the anger rising out of Grace. Luke held onto Grace who wanted to jump out of her seat after him. Finally, Ryan neared the end of the song. He returned to the stage and sung directly to Grace, knowing that it was driving her crazy as she sneered at him. "Just as every cop is a criminal, and all the sinners saints, as heads is tails, just call me Lucifer 'cause I'm in need of some restraint…So if you meet me, have some courtesy, have some sympathy…and some taste. Use all your well-learned politesse…or I'll lay your soul to waste, um yeah! Pleased to meet you, hope you guessed my name, um yeah! But what's puzzling you, is the nature…of my game…mmmmm meant it, get on down! Awww yeah!" The song finished and the audience of people clapped.

The host went up on stage, reading a list.

"Next up is new comer, Luke!" She called. Grace grabbed Luke's arm.

"Kick his ass." She ordered. Luke nodded, assuringly. She didn't know that Luke had seen Ryan's name and his song choice on the list and had appropriately picked a song to sing back. Ryan watched, amused, froma booth nearby where Grace, Joan and the others were sitting. Luke cleared his throat nervously. But a glance at Ryan's smirk and he was resolved. The music began and Luke started to sing.

"Well I…won't back down. No I, won't back down. You can stand me up at the gates of hell, but I…won't back down." He sung, fiercely. His voice melted perfectly to the words and he didn't have to read them off the screen. His leg tapped to the beat to keep himself in time. Grace's eyes were glued to him.

"Who knew Luke could sing?" Joan asked, astounded. She, Grace, Adam, Lilly and Will were clapping in beat as he sung.

"No I'll, stand my ground, won't be, turned around. And I'll keep this world from draggin' me down, gonna…stand my ground and I…won't back down." The crowd sung along, except for Ryan. "Heeeyyyy baby, there ain't no easy way out," He smiled as he sung, looking at Grace who grinned encouragingly, singing along now. "Heeyyy I will stand my ground…and I won't…back down." He glared at Ryan. "Well I…know what's right…and I got…just one like. In a world that keeps on pushin' me around, but I'll…stand my ground, and I…won't back down. Heyyyyy baby…" He looked back at Grace, feeling comfort in her eyes. "There ain't no easy way out! Heeeeyyy IIII…will stand my ground…and I won't back down…no I won't back down…" the song finished and the crowd erupted, impressed with Luke's ability. Grace even stood with the others, whistling and hollering as they clapped and Luke left the stage.

"That'll be five bucks from all of you…" He said with a grin as he walked over.

"Good job, Squirt." Kevin gave Luke a pat on the back.

"Who knew you could use your vocal chords so well?" Joan asked.

"Is there a scientific reason for that one, pal?" Will asked with a smile. Luke just grinned.

"We have a challenge from Ryan Hunter, to Luke Girardi ladies and gentlemen, for a sing off!" The host called. "Luke? Are you still out there?"

Luke and the others turned to see Ryan, fuming on the stage. He grinned and looked at Grace, to see if she thought he should do it. Grace grinned.

"Go for it." she said. Luke headed back for the stage. Ryan sung first. He chose "Runnin' With The Devil" by Van Halen and performed it wildly dancing and like Satan had lit coals under his feet. Luke climbed up on stage. He whispered something to the host and the host nodded pointing to an acoustic guitar nearby. Luke picked it up and started tuning it.

"When the heck did he start playing guitar?" Kevin asked.

"He picked it up as a hobby about a year ago. Said he could use science to teach him anything." Grace said, not taking her eyes off of him. Kevin looked impressed. Luke turned so as he stood he was facing the table his family and friends were at. He cleared his throat and looked at Grace.

"This is for someone special." He said, knowing she would be mad if he said her name. He smiled. "You know who you are." He nodded to her. Grace nodded, not sure if she should be touched, or pissed at his display. Luke shook his shoulders out nervously and began playing. He leaned in to the microphone, concentrating on the song, keeping time with his foot, and never letting his eyes leave Grace's, unless it was to close his as he tried to hit a note intensely. "Love…I get so lost…sometimes. Days, pass…and this emptiness fills my heart. When I want to ruuunn away…I drive off, in my car. But whichever waaaay I go…I come back to the place you are." He made sure to look directly in her eyes and lock hers with his. "All my instincts, they return. And the grand façade, so soon will burn. Without a noise…without my pride…" His whispered tone mirrored the feel of the song perfectly as he strummed and hit the guitar for the beat. "I reach out from the insiiiide…in your eyes…the light, the heat. I am complete…in your eyes…I see the doorway to a thousand churches, in your eyes. The resolution, of all the fruitless searches, in your eyes. I see the light and the heat, in your eyes. Ohhhhhh I want to be that complete…I want to touch the light, the heat I see in your eyes…" He stared at he. She felt every word of the song as he sung it, confused and surprised that she was letting herself enjoy it. "Love…I don't like to see so much pain. Soooo, much waaasted…and this moment keeps slipping away." He belted it out, hitting the notes perfectly. "I get soooo tiiired…working so hard, for our survival. I look to the tiiiime with you, to keep me awake and alive…And all my instincts, they return. And the grand façade, so soon will burn. Without a noise…without my pride…I reach out from the inside…" He stopped strumming and drummed a beat on the acoustic guitar. "In your eyes…your eyes…your eyes…in your eyyyyyes…your eyes…the light the heat…your eyes…I am complete…in your eyes. I see the doorway, to a thousand churches…in your eyes. The resolution…of all my fruitless searches. In your eyes, I see the light and the heat. In your eyes. Ohhhh I want to be that comeplete! I want to touch the light, the heat I see in your eyes! In your eyes….in your eyes….in your eyes. In your eyes…in your eyes. In your eyes…." He finished the song and received a standing ovation. Setting the guitar down he went to walk off stage but the host stopped him. Luke noticed Grace stare at him, he couldn't tell but she looked misty eyed. She made her way out of the main area of the restaurant. He wanted to follow but the host grabbed his arm as Ryan approached.

"What do you think, who won?" The host held his hand over Ryan's head. "Ryan?" The audience applauded and cheered. "Or Luke?" He held his hand over Luke's head. The crowd went nuts, clapping, cheering and hitting their tables. "Luke is the winner!"

Ryan stalked off the stage, huffing and out towards where Grace ran. Luke was held up as the host gave Luke the winning cash prize for the karaoke contest. Luke thanked the man and then went to find Grace.

* * *

"Aw, your cute little boyfriend sung you a song…" Ryan patronized Grace when he saw her standing at the front door, wiping her eyes. Grace clenched her jaw. 

"Grow up, Hunter." Grace muttered. Ryan closed in on Grace, who felt herself back against the wall of the building. He was too close for comfort after what she knew he'd done. He put his right hand up to the wall to stop her from side stepping to her left. To her right was the side of the building that jutted out. Grace was trapped. She tried to control the panic that was causing a rise in her blood pressure, and the hitch in her breath.

"The big bad wolf is scared, huh?" Ryan sneered. "I didn't think it would be that easy to get to you. I mean, sure a nice tempting glass of alcohol, that's a button I like to push. You didn't fall for it though. It's quite a pity your mom does, it could lead her to an early grave."

Grace surged forward, her wrist caught by Ryan. "Don't threaten my mother." She demanded. She felt pain in her wrist as he squeezed and shoved her back against the wall. Over head the fireworks started going off. Ryan chuckled.

"I do like a little background noise." He smiled.

"You don't scare me, asshole." She retorted. She moved to knee him between his legs but he put his foot between hers and forced her leg back down with his own, pushing her own legs apart. Adrenaline was racing through her but Grace was pinned and powerless.

"Hey!" Luke called, running through the lobby for them.

"Oh look, physics boy." Ryan muttered.

"Ever hear of momentum?" Luke asked as he neared. Ryan snickered.

"What?"

Luke swung his arm and his fist collided with Ryan's face before he followed through and his elbow hit Ryan in the nose, sending him backwards over a neatly trimmed bush and into the grass, with a groan of pain. "In physics, momentum is a physical quantity related to the velocity and mass of an object…" He went over and knelt over Ryan, grabbing him with one hand by the collar, and balling his fist in the other. "That means I use speed to hit your useless mass of a body and the force knocks you down like a pile of bricks." He gritted his teeth angrily. Grace was frozen, unsure if this was really happening.

"Lucky shot, punk." Ryan spit blood to the side. Luke went in for another punch but was stopped by the force of Ryan's hands, surging forward to choke him. As he fell backwards, Ryan landed on top of him, still choking. Luke coughed and sputtered for air. He flailed desperately.

"What kind of science is this, genius?" He asked. Luke let his knee fly and it landed right in the money shot. Ryan rolled off of him in pain and Luke punched him again. He would have kept going, but Grace grabbed his arm.

"Luke, stop!" She said. Luke looked at her. It was the second time this summer she'd used his first name. She looked pale and still shaken. Ryan lay on the ground, half conscious, and holding his face with one hand and his groin with the other. Grace had never seen Luke so forceful, even the time he'd attacked a bully for pushing Grace into a wall.

"Are you all right?" He asked, standing now, facing her with his hands on her shoulders. He inspected her with his eyes, looking for any sign that she wasn't. Grace nodded slowly.

"I'm all right." She half lied. She looked at Ryan. "I can't believe you did that…" she shook her head, shocked as Luke pulled her to him.

"I couldn't help it." He looked down at her. "What? Did you think I could stand idly by when he was hurting you?" He asked. Grace swallowed hard. She looked from Ryan, back to Luke.

"We need to talk…" She said. Luke nodded. Ryan clambered to his feet, ready to fight again.

"Come on." He demanded. Luke glared, but Grace held onto him.

"He's not worth it." She assured. "Or else I'd kick his ass."

Ryan spotted the others coming, and, seeing Will, turned and left as quickly as he could.

"Come on, let's go…" Luke led the way, so that the others were walking behind them and wouldn't have to ask what was wrong. "We'll talk when we get in and find somewhere private?" He suggested. Grace nodded.

"That's the plan." She agreed.


	11. It's Getting Harder & Harder To Breathes

**That Summer  
Rating: T-M  
Disclaimer:** If the characters were mine I'd be getting paid to write TV scripts, now wouldn't I? So…you know the drill.  
**Reviewers: Sam - **You know I was hoping someone would like the necklace part. It was a pretty random sub plot, but hey, it was cute. Thanks for the welcome back! I had a great time! **Laura – **Curiosity may have killed the cat, but you know satisfaction brought 'im back! A little mystery is good to figure out sometimes! P.S. I love the G/L too! Lol. **sayxanything – **Sha! I will, yo! I promise! **Audrey F. – **Hey girl, I do my best to get my hooks in! It seemed to work on you, muahahaha!  
**Everyone: **Thanks for the reads. Love ya lots.  
**A/N: You're going to want to murder me for this chapter…I apologize in advance. This is an intense chapter…at least I think so. Also I didn't know how old Ryan was, so I improvised, FYI for future reference. Also, I did a piss poor proofread so sorry for typos! Read on…don't kill me…**

**

* * *

Chapter 11 – It's Getting Harder & Harder To Breathe**

"Do you think we should be talking about private, intense stuff right outside the house?" Luke asked. He and Grace were lying in the hammock that was on the side of the house just outside the kitchen. They were both facing each other, swaying slightly as the breeze blew cool air on them, and they listened to the waves crash distantly. Luke unfolded the blanket they'd brought out with them and laid it over top of both of them.

"They're all asleep," Grace said. She was fingering the necklace that Luke still had on, afraid to make eye contact with him and avoiding it as best as possible.

"Yeah…yeah, you're right." He nodded. Grace snickered slightly.

"That was beautiful, dude." She said. Luke blushed some.

"I kind of zoned out, when I saw him, and you against the wall." Luke rambled. Grace shook her head, taking his face in her hands and kissing him to stop his rant. She placed her forehead against his. He watched her. Her eyes were closed and she swallowed hard before opening them and looking at him with a crooked grin.

"I meant…the song." She told him. Luke offered a small, sheepish smile and a shrug. "And, I mean, the whole scientist superhero bit was surprising." She cleared her throat quietly as they spoke in hushed tones.

"Grace," Luke sighed. "We need to tell my Dad-,"

"No. We don't. We can deal with him on our own." Grace cut him off, looking him in the eyes.

"Grace," Luke began again. He was nervous, and upset. Frankly, Hunter freaked Luke out. He saw the look on her face as her eyes averted his again and she stared at the necklace, just to avoid looking at him. He sighed. "What is it you wanted to talk to me about?" He changed the subject only slightly.

"I know you're going to be angry." She said, her hands resting on his chest. He index finger reached out again and gingerly prodded the metal of his necklace. She felt Luke's hand sliding up and down her back in slow motions. She would never really let on how much it really did comfort her to have him so near and so concerned. "And you have every right to be once I tell you, but I want you to know that the only reason I didn't tell anyone is because I didn't think it would come to all of this. A-and then all of the stuff that happened. The attacks and the fires and the vandalism, and, and you know all of that happened, I just couldn't. I haven't been open to people so long and then you and your family come along and I start caring again and I didn't want to you know, lose out on that again because I can't be alone anymore, okay? I know that's stupid and it makes no sense coming from me. I fight everything, I know. I just…" Grace's voice caught in her throat and Luke could see she was beginning to mist at the eyes. "Luke," Her eyes traveled to his, brimming with tears, frightened, and vulnerable the likes of which Luke had never seen her, even when Grace's mother was at her worst. "I don't think I can take losing you." She forced out, knowing how dumb it must have sounded coming from the tough girl. Knowing that Luke would never forget those words as long as he lived, now that she'd revealed them. She clenched her eyes shut, feeling stupid, and ridiculous. A few corpulent tears rolled their way down her cheeks as she shut her eyes. She didn't want to open them, in the silence between herself and Luke. She was afraid of his reaction. It terrified and chilled Grace to the bone that Luke might burst out laughing at her, not believing her at any moment.

It was only after she felt the soft surface of Luke's hand on her cheek that Grace's eyes opened slowly and focused through the blurry haze of tears on him. He looked worried, concerned, upset and distressed at seeing her so visibly shaken. And then she saw one clear emotion shine through as she watched him take a deep breath of air, knowing his heart was pounding almost as hard as hers.

"Grace…" he said barely above a whisper. She let her eyes look away again. Luke held onto her face carefully, moving his head to catch her eyes again and locking them with his. "Nothing you say to me right this moment, or ever in the future could be any cause for you to lose me." He said firmly. Grace studied his eyes, feeling uncertain still. "I love you Grace…" He said sincerely. "I'm not going anywhere. Ever."

Grace chewed her bottom lip nervously. She knew Luke meant the words he was saying. She also knew she felt the same way about him. She was still terrified of the words she was about to utter. She knew the consequences of this admission were grave, especially once the others found out. Looking into Luke's eyes, her body relaxed. She felt herself being pulled into Luke's embrace of comfort, love and support.

"Ryan Hunter…" she said, still looking directly in his eyes. "Is my brother."

* * *

"What?" Joan asked, blinking blankly at Grace. It had been a week since Joan's parents and Kevin had left, and Grace had broken the news to Luke. Now, the four of them were sitting at the kitchen table; Adam and Joan on once side and Grace and Luke on the other. Luke had a protective arm around Grace's shoulders. Grace couldn't look Joan in the eyes. 

"I-I, uhm…I said…" Grace took a deep breath. "Hunter is…my brother." The words tasted sour in her mouth. She wished she could swallow them and never bring them up again. But it was too late for that now.

"How is that even possible?" Adam asked, staring at her astounded. How could he have known Grace for the better part of most of their lives and not know she had a brother, let alone that it was Ryan Hunter?

"And you're just finding it convenient right now to tell us this information?" Joan asked, incredulously.

"Girardi…" Grace sat there with her mouth open, unsure what to say.

"Joan, cool it." Luke said defensively.

"You're going to stick up for her after she lied to us?" Joan snapped at him.

"Well…she didn't really lie, Jane." Adam said. Joan looked at him. "I mean, it's not like we asked if she was related to him." He reasoned. Joan looked at Grace. She could see the strain, worry, and the pain etched across her friend's face, and Joan instantly felt remorse for her reaction. She took a deep breath.

"Okay…" she sighed. "Lay it on me…" She said. Grace looked at Luke and then Adam and then back to Joan before she started fiddling with her hands.

"He, uh…he's 9 years older than me." She said, clearing her throat out. "Before my parents were married, you know, my mom had a fling with this guy. She didn't want to have him, but really what choice did she have at the time?" Grace told the story she had told Luke a week before. "I didn't know, until last August." She looked at Joan. "A-after everything that happened…I didn't know how to tell anyone." She sighed. "Your father probably knows…I mean after the background checks he did. I guess he figured I should be the one to tell you. And he was right. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. I didn't think it matter." She gritted her teeth. "I despise him as much as you all do, okay? It's not like it matters who's blood he has, he's still evil." She looked around at them again. "He's the reason my mom started the drinking." She confessed. "He's behind the vandalism…and, nd he's the reason Judith is dead." She swallowed hard and looked at Joan again. "And he's the reason Bonnie is the way she is…you know, messed up in the head." Grace said.

Joan was speechless. Adam stared at Grace blankly, not sure what to say or do. Without a word, Joan stood and made her way around to Grace, wrapping her in a tight embrace. Normally, Grace would chide Joan for this, but today was different. Instead she let Joan hug her, and she even hugged back.

"Grace…" Joan said, her voice visibly shaken. "I didn't…I'm so sorry." IT was all Joan could get out. Grace only nodded in response.

"So…" Luke said, trying to break up the intense moment. He rubbed his hands together. "What's our strategy?" He looked at Joan. "And message from the head honcho?"

"Our plan is that we keep on with our daily lives. We avoid Hunter at all possible costs." Joan said. Grace nodded.

"I second that." She said.

"At the end of the summer, we separate and continue our lives. We keep in contact and we keep a close eye on Ryan's moves and tactics." Joan said again. "And we'll get through all of this…mess. Together."

* * *

"Don't do it, Ryan." A voice said from behind Ryan. He was standing on the crowded beach, looking at the water, contemplating. He rolled his eyes and sighed. 

"Now what do you want?" Ryan turned around to see God standing there, as a skinny, tanned woman in a bikini. He raised an eyebrow at Beach Girl God. "Are you trying to seduce me, Lord?" He asked seductively. Beach Girl God smirked at him, unamused..

"I know everything Ryan…that comment was rolling around your head for a full thirty seconds before you used it. I also know what you're planning on doing." She said to him. Ryan snorted.

"And you can't stop me." He smiled wickedly. "See I was paying attention to that part, G-dawg. You can't directly intervene."

"You're right. I can't." Beach Girl God shrugged and walked away towards the lifeguard stand. Ryan snickered. Resolved, he headed down the beach to a less crowded section to execute his plan.

* * *

"Nice day at the beach today, isn't it, Joan?" Beach Girl God asked from next to the lifeguard stand. Joan squinted and looked down, inspecting God's new appearance. 

"Nice suit." Joan said approvingly.

"Well it's not teeny weeny yell polka dot bikini, but it'll do." God said. Grace looked at the girl and then at Joan.

"God morphs into hot babes on a beach?" Grace asked, sounded almost grossed out. "That's disturbing."

"Hello, Grace." Beach Girl God said. "You know I always did like your sense of humor." She mused.

"Okay…this stuff freaks me out." Grace said. She climbed down from the lifeguard stand.

"That's okay. Luke's coming down the beach now." Beach Girl God pointed. "You can make the exit you're thinking about making." She assured. Grace looked at her.

"See, this is why people freak out about you." She said holding a finger up. "Cover me." She said to Joan, who nodded. Grace met Luke about fifteen feet behind the lifeguard stand. He wrapped her up in a hug and kissed her. Two weeks after everything have come out in the open and things were getting back to normal-better even.

"You've got bad news for me, don't you?" Joan asked. "I know I know, no answers to questions, blah, blah, blah." Joan answered herself.

"Let her go, Joan. It's something she has to do." Beach Girl God said.

"What?" Joan asked. "Do you mean Grace?"

Beach Girl God looked at Joan, squinting in the sunlight. "It's going to get much harder before it gets better, Joan. But you've got to let her do it. Let her go. If you love something, let it go-,"

"Oh, don't go there." Joan held her hand up. Beach Girl God turned and waved to what Joan assumed was a friend and ran off, giving a backwards wave to Joan. Joan sighed.

"Great…" she mumbled.

"Girardi! Are you blind?" Grace yelled, running to the lifeguard stand. She climbed up halfway and grabbed her orange can, unrolling it and putting the strap over her head and across her chest. Joan looked out at the water. Someone was having trouble staying afloat.

"Grace wait!" Joan ran after her. "It's Hunter! It's a trick!" She grabbed Grac'es arm. Grace bit her lip, looking at Hunter sinking and not coming back up and then at Joan.

"Girardi…Satan or not…" Grace trailed off. Joan's eyes widened. _Let her go_. Joan let Grace go. Grace took off in the water, diving as soon as she could and swimming. Joan went and retrieved her own orange can and followed. Luke watched from the shoreline with his feet wet up to his shins, anxious, just like the crowd that was now forming.

Out in the water, Grace came up for air after diving to look for Ryan. Joan caught up.

"He's been under one minute." She gasped for air, ducking under a swell. Joan nodded.

"Okay. Let's go." She said. Both girls took a deep breath and dove underwater. Grace opened her eyes in the murky, cloudy salt water, as it stung her eyes. She couldn't' see much but she swam around looking for any sing of a Hunter's body. Joan did the same a few feet away. After she ran out of air, she came up.

"Grace?" She called, looking around. "Grace?" She screamed.

* * *

Grace turned around before she was about to surface, and came face to face with Ryan. She let out a scream, releasing her bubbles of air and inhaling water inadvertently. Ryan grabbed her by the neck before she could push herself to the surface. She grabbed his wrist, shocked at his strength as she tried to kick away from him. He grabbed her shoulder with his other hand and held her under. As he pulled her closer, she saw the vague outline of something in his mouth. He was breathing underwater. Grace was starting to feel ill to her stomach. She felt her eyes rolling backwards into her head, and it was becoming harder to kick and hold onto Ryan's wrists.

* * *

"GRACE!" Joan called out, surfacing again. She was passed panic mode now. Luke saw this from the shoreline and hurriedly made his way out to Joan. 

"Luke I can't find Grace!" Joan panicked. Without hearing anything else, Luke inhaled air and dove underwater. Joan's mind went, for a split second, to the fact that Luke was scared of the ocean, and then quickly back to her search of Grace, diving under after Luke.

* * *

Grace felt her lungs filling. They were tight and heavy. Her body involuntarily inhaled, getting more and more water and no air. She began to pray. She didn't know exactly who she was praying too. Maybe it was the Beach Girl God. IT could have been that Goth kid God Joan had talked to a bunch of times. Then again it could have been to any God. She couldn't die. Not now. Not when everything had been going right. Not when she'd finally opened herself up and let her life fill up again. With one last ounce of resigned determinism, Grace bent her legs and kicked with all the force she had left in her, thinking only of Luke, and the possibility of what her death could do to him. She felt Ryan surge up with her. Before she reached the surface and air could fill her lungs, she felt herself go limp and the murky sea water became black. Ryan let go of her and turned, swimming his way back to where he came as the bubble of his breathing escaped from the mouthpiece he had in, which was connected to a small canister.

* * *

"Grace!" Luke called out. He ducked under a swell and looked over to see a patched of matter blonde hair. "Joan she's over here!" Luke wasted no time in closing the gap to where Grace was floating on her back unconscious, with her head barely above water. Luke reached her and pulled her head to his chest, keeping her shoulders above the water. He kicked in the water, trying to stay afloat and move with the waves on shore. 

"We need to get her to the beach." Joan found she was in more control of herself then she expected. _It's going to get much harder before it gets better_, echoed through Joan's head.

"I don't think she's breathing!" Luke screamed, panicked and horrified. Joan helped Luke swimm with Grace until the water was too shallow. Lifeguards from nearby stands had arrived. A lifeguard truck with spinning lights and a siren had shown up as Luke and Joan dragged Grace far enough on the beach so the water was not hitting her. Joan wasted no time in laying Grace flat on the sand.

She tilted Grace's head back and put her own ear to Grace's chest, looking to see if it was moving as she held her fingers against Grace's neck for a pulse.

"Joan do something!" Luke yelled, feeling helpless. Joan knew he was crying without looking. "She's…she's not breathing!"

"She had a pulse!" Joan called out to the other lifeguards who were within fifteen feet. Joan tilted Grace's head back further and without hesitation, pinched Grace's nose shut, covered Grace's mouth with hers and blew a deep breath in. She did this repeatedly as the other lifeguards prepared a backboard for Grace.

"What happened?" One of the lifeguards asked. He looked more official than the others, probably the head lifeguard, Luke assumed.

"We were trying to save someone!" Joan said. "I don't know what happened!" She put her ear to Grace's chest and felt for a pulse again. Three lifeguards headed in the water to look for the other victim. "Oh, oh God. I lost the pulse. I lost the pulse. Grace! Stop this now! Come back!" Joan yelled. She began to do CPR more forcefully, alternating with the head lifeguard for compressions and breathing.

"How long has she been out, Girardi?" He asked.

"Two…two and a half minutes since we found her." Luke called out. He knew that over four minutes without air to her brain and Grace could have brain damage forever…if she survived.

"Come on Grace!" Joan pleaded as the head lifeguard counted to five before she leaned in for another breath. Luke watched, frozen. He could feel his hart slamming against his ribcage. This couldn't be happening. Grace can't die. She just can't. Please don't let her die.

"Damnit Grace, you are not getting away from us this easily!" Joan screamed, switching to go compressions. "Wake up!" She ordered, close to sobs. "Please…!"

Luke fell to his knees in front of the scene. Grace's lips were blue, her skin was pale, and her body was lifeless. It was the most haunting sight Luke had ever seen. He couldn't believe this was happening. Wasn't there anything he could do? Luke started recycling every prayer he'd ever heard. He begged and pleaded with his own life to God for hers, as most people do in these kinds of situations. That's when he heard the most gut wrenching words he'd ever had to endure.

"Girardi…it's too late." The head lifeguard stopped his end of the CPR. Joan cried into her hands. This was not happening.

"Don't give up on her!" Someone called out. Joan heard the voice. It was Beach Girl God. Without hesitation, Joan snapped back into CPR on her own. _Good ripples, right? These will be good ripples…please…_she thought.


	12. Don\'t Take The Girl

**That Summer  
Rating: T-M  
Disclaimer:** If the characters were mine I'd be getting paid to write TV scripts, now wouldn't I? So…you know the drill.  
**Reviewers: Sam – **Thanks. I wasn't sure where the Hunter thing was gonna go until I wrote it. And then I read it and figure, yeah, I could go with it. I'm glad it was good enough to read more than once! **Laura – **Now listen sista, the first step to fixing your addiction problem is admitting you have one…say it with me now… "My name is Laura…and I'm addicted to fanfic…" But, since I'm addicted too, here's to feeding out addictions, no? **AudreyF. – **Thanks! I'm a big fan of cliffhangers. The whole adrenaline and the feeling of NO! Don't just stop there! Is awesome, isn't it? **Butterfly Dancing – **Yeah…I can be kind of evil…but awesome evil! Thanks! And as for you dying over there, seems to me Grace feels your pain in this story. Okay that was cheesy I know.  
**Everyone else: Thanks for reading. Much love to you! Keep reading, we're coming closer to the end here people!  
A/N: I got an email from someone who said the last chapter made them so distraught they couldn't leave a review and that I was an evil person for ending it where I did. So I apologize to anyone who was traumatized, distraught or distressed because of the last chapter! As always, sorry for typos because of my piss poor proofreading!**

**

* * *

Chapter 12 – Don't Take The Girl**

Luke felt his heart pounding against his ribcage. He was fairly certain that it had broken one of his ribs, because it was getting hard to breathe due to the tightness in his chest. He stared blankly at Grace, blocking out everyone surrounding her, including the crowd of on lookers. He willed her to sit up, coughing and gasping for air, as if it had all just been a sick joke. He reached out mechanically and found her hand, lying motionless in the sand and took her cold, wet hand into his. He wished her fingers would curl around his and she would open her eyes. Shaking, he looked at his watch. Three minutes and fourteen seconds. _Come on Grace…please,_ he thought.

"Girardi." The head lifeguard, who's another lifeguard had called Brody, put a hand on Joan to stop her. Joan had been doing both compressions and breathing because the others had felt it was useless. Joan violently through Brody's arm off of her and continued the CPR, without replying. She was crying as she did so, but was too determined to let that interfere. "Girardi, you're not going to get her back." Brody said. Joan ignored him.

The three lifeguards that had gone in the water to find Ryan came out empty handed.

"Brody! Nobody's out there." One of them said. Brody looked at Joan.

"I thought you said you were going for a victim?" He asked. Joan ignored him. He grabbed her arm.

"Let me go!" She shoved him away. "Grace come on!" Joan began pushing on Grace's ribcage again. Three minutes and twenty-six seconds.

"There was." Luke spoke up, shakily, not taking his yes off of Joan and Grace. "Ryan. Ryan Hunter. He was drowning." Luke forced out, squeezing on Grace's hand. He was still pleading in his head for her life. And that's when it happened.

Without warning, Grace's body lurched at her torso. Her hand instinctively clenched onto Luke's a water sputtered out of her mouth as she uncontrollably gagged, coughed the water up and gasped wildly for air. Her eyes were still closed. Joan and Brody rolled her over onto her side as more water came out. It would have been the most disgusting, disturbing sound Luke had ever heard, if it hadn't been the most wonderful.

"Grace! Grace!" Joan called, pushing Grace's wet, sandy hair out of the way as they settled Grace back onto her back after all the water had come out. Grace's head lolled back and forth. Her eyes opened briefly but only to roll up into her head as she breathed heavily. Color was starting to return to her lips as the other lifeguards put a neck brace on her and moved her to a backboard to take her to the ambulance that was waiting on the street.

Luke and Joan raced along with them, helping to carry her through the crowds of people and up the beach. When they reached the sidewalk, they put the backboard onto the stretcher that the paramedics had ready. Everyone but Joan and Luke-who was still holding Grace's hand tightly-backed up. The paramedics put a green tinted oxygen mask over Grace's mouth, an elastic band held it around her head. They used a flashlight to check her eyes as they spoke in medical code to each other, hooking her to the stretcher and preparing it to go into the ambulance.

"Only one of you can fit in the bus with us." The female paramedics said. Joan looked at Luke. She was getting shaky now.

"You go. I'll drive to the hospital." She assured. Luke didn't hesitate to second guess this. He didn't want to let go of Grace. As they pushed the stretcher in, he held onto her hand and climbed inside, sitting against the wall next to the stretcher. The ambulance began to drive and the female paramedic was in the back with them, checking Grace's blood pressure and hooking an IV up to her arm as well as giving her a needle, but Luke didn't know what was in it. He looked at Grace.

He noticed her eyes weren't shut all the way. He could feel that he was still crying. He wasn't sobbing but the tears were still overwhelming his eyes and sliding down his cheeks. He reached a hand out and stroked her hair, carefully.

"I'm right here." He told her.

Grace struggled to keep her eyes cracked open as they were. Her vision felt foggy and blurry. The mixture of only being cracked open and being full of saltwater and sand make them burn. But she saw Luke. She could barely make him out but there he was. She felt his hand and she gripped it tighter. Luke nodded as if he could read her mind.

"I'm not going anywhere." He promised as they raced to the hospital with the lights and sirens on. Luke listened to the heart monitor the paramedic had hooked up and to the wheezing sound of her breath as she inhaled and exhaled painfully.

* * *

"Jane!" Adam called. Joan looked up to see Adam sprinting up the hall towards where she was standing, leaning against the wall next to the uncomfortable plastic chairs. She couldn't get herself to sit down for the three hours she'd been there. She was biting on her fingernail when she heard him. Looking up Joan saw him a second before he'd engulfed her to him. Joan felt herself melt into his embrace, her face burrowing itself into his neck and collarbone. She shivered as she began to cry. Adam smoothed her hair with one hand and held her to him, rubbing her back gently with the other. She could smell the house paint on him. 

"Adam…" Joan choked out, her sobs cutting into her voice now. "It was…a-awful…oh God…" She shuddered. Adam swayed slightly as he held onto her.

"Shh…it's okay. It'll be all right, Jane." He said. He didn't even know what had happened. He just wanted to calm her down. Looking around the waiting room, Adam saw a few of the other lifeguards sitting and waiting for news. He knew then that it must have been Grace, which would explain Luke's absence. He knew Luke wouldn't have just sat in the waiting room.

"What happened?" Adam asked quietly.

"Ryan." Joan spit out.

"Ryan?" Adam asked, growing more confused each passing minute.

"He…he was drowning…" she said, still crying and not letting herself out of Adam's embrace.

"Is he…?" Adam tried to form a question, unsure.

"No. I don't know." Joan sniffled. "We were looking for him. In the water." She said, shaking. "Grace didn't come back to the surface." She felt herself crying harder again. "L-Luke came out…He found her…just…f-f…floating…" her shoulder shook violently. She had, after all, held all of this in on the beach when she was ready to break down. Joan couldn't lose another friend. Especially not her best friend.

"Okay…" Adam tried to keep her calm. He swallowed hard, afraid to ask his next question. "Is Grace, um…is she…?" He couldn't get the word past his lips.

Grace had been the one who sat with him when his dad was picking out a coffin, and ordering floral arrangements and making the other funeral arrangements. She had been the one to reach out and hold his hand at the funeral when he wouldn't let anyone touch him. She had followed him when he'd run away to their favorite hiking trail and sat with him all night until he wanted to return in the morning. She hadn't given him and fake stupid cliché sayings like 'she's in a better place now,' and 'it's going to be okay, you'll see,' or 'some people just don't know how to handle their problems.' She hadn't given him any of the false sentiments that were meant to comfort but only inflicted more pain and made life more real and painful. She had been the one to simply sit with him in his darkest times. He didn't need words to make his feelings more complicated then, and Grace knew that feeling well, so she'd just sit with him and let him cry, ot scream or yell, or rant and rave. Could she really be gone now too?

"She was." Joan said. She looked up. "We…CPR…and then they brought her here. I-I don't know if she's still awake…or, or if anything else happened. They won't tell us anything." Joan glared at the nurse's station. The emotions that washed over Adam's face were strange. He was relieved, but still frightened.

"It'll be all right." He said solemnly. Joan put her head back down.

"It has to be…" She agreed softly.

* * *

Grace heard the sound of water in her ears. She forced her eyes open in the murking water and there was Ryan staring back at her with that wicked smile on his face. She screamed out and felt the water engulf her lungs. _No_, her mind screamed. She kicked and flailed to no avail. Ryan grinned at her, waving almost demonically. She felt hands on her neck but Ryan was too far away. Panic set in as it became harder to breathe. _Please, not again. No!_

Luke sat up straight. Grace's eyes had just popped open wide, as she awoke with a jolt. Her hand gripped his so hard he thought she may have dislocated one of them.

"Hey…" He said just loud enough. Her eyes averted to him as the sound of her heartbeat steadied on the monitor and her breathing slowly returned to normal and she let her body relax back into the bed. It was propped up so she was in a sitting position. Luke reached his hand out and pushed her hair behind her ear. He offered a tiny, scared smile. "It's all right. You're awake now." He said. She studied him, still confused. His eyes were bloodshot and puffy. The end of his nose was red and he sniffled. There was an tube in her nose feeding oxygen in as she breathed. An IV bag was hooked into the back of her right hand. Luke clutched her left hand as tightly as she was holding his. What was she doing here? She should be dead.

"What…" she said hoarsely.

"You scared the hell out of us there…" He said sweetly, trying to make light of the situation. "Do you remember what happened?" Grace nodded slightly. Luke grabbed the cup of water he'd poured with his freehand off the nightstand and held it for her to take a sip. Grace hesitated a moment before sipping out of the straw. Luke set the cup back down.

"Hunter." She said, tiredly resting her head to the left side, looking at Luke with half-open eyes. Luke nodded.

"Yeah. He was drowning. You and Joan went after him." He said. "Do you know what happened after that?" He asked. "I mean, you're a strong swimmer and all." He closed his eyes only for a second, trying for the billionth time to get the picture of her floating just above the surface of the water out of his mind.

"Hunter." She said again when he opened his eyes and looked at her. Her eyes filled up but didn't spill over. "Was a trick." She used the least amount of words she could, feeling exhausted. Her chest felt like it was on fire. Luke's face turned cold when it clicked in his head what she meant. That's when he noticed the finger marks on her neck. He felt rage surge through him, until he saw the discomfort and pain on her face.

"You, uh, it's gonna hurt to breathe for a while." He almost chuckled as he wiped at his face before she could see. "Joan put a hairline fraction in one of your ribs." He said. Grace looked at him. "W-Wh-uh, When she wouldn't stop. The CPR, I mean." He said. He reached up and ran a hand across her cheek and through her hair before leaning over and kissing her forehead. "Go to sleep, okay?" He told her. Grace was too drained to argue. She nodded slightly and closed her eyes.

* * *

"Luke! Where's Grace?" Joan asked, leaping to her feet when she spotted her brother walk up the hallway and look around for her and Adam. He walked over to them. 

"Is she all right?" Adam asked. Luke felt so many emotions he didn't think he could list them all, from rage, to fear and relief to love. Adam saw Luke's fist clench. "What's going on?"

"They said she'll be all right. They're gonna keep her here for two days." Luke cleared his throat. He looked at Joan. "One of her ribs has a hairline fracture. From the CPR." He said. Joan looked down, feeling guilty. "He tried to drowned her."

Both Joan and Adam looked up upon hearing this.

"Hunter?" Adam asked. Luke nodded, too angry to say it out loud. Joan was in shock, even though deep down she'd known it had to be him Adam's face went cold. Joan thought he looked almost as angry and hurt as when she'd smashed his art. Worse even.

"What are we gonna do?" Luke asked, looking to Joan. Joan looked between them nervously.

"I…I'm gonna go get a coffee…and think." She excused herself. She headed around the corner and leaned back against the vending machine as the coffee machine prepared to pour her drink. She put her head back, tiredly. "What are we gonna do?" She asked desperately, on the verge of tears again.

"Call your father, Joan."

Joan looked up to see a nurse decked out in green scrubs putting money into a soda machine. Joan stared at Nurse God.

"She could have died because of you." Joan said. "Let her go! She could have died! She did die!"

"She's all right Joan." Nurse God looked at Joan. "Thanks to you. And Luke."

"And your only advice is to call my dad!" Joan shouted. "He's trying to kill us!"

"I know Joan-omniscient, remember?" Nurse God replied. "Call your father." She turned and waved and walked before Joan could reply. Shaking her head Joan grabbed her coffee cup and then pulled out another quarter, walking up the hall for the payphones. She stuck the money in and dialed. It rang three times before there was an answer.

"Girardi." Her father replied after seeing the unknown number.

"Daddy?" Joan asked, sounding quiet and desperately like a small child.

"Joan?" Will replied, sounding scared and caught off guard. "What is it? What's wrong?"

* * *

"Hey." Adam said when Joan had returned. "Everything okay?" 

Joan nodded. "I called my Dad." She said quietly. Luke and Adam stared at her. "He should be here in a few hours." She cleared her throat. "The local police should be here soon to take our statements. They're sending out a manhunt to look for Ryan." She said.

"I'm going to check on Grace." Luke stood and walked up the hall.

"Can I come with you?" Joan asked.

"Yeah." Adam said, standing. Luke nodded and the three of them heded for Grace's room.

Grace heard them enter and a smile crept across her face before she opened her eyes.

"Herrre…comes…the cavalry…" She said sarcastically. She noted their faces. "Geez…did somebody die?" She asked.

"That's not funny." Joan said, hiding her smile as she walked closer with Adam and Luke.

"Oh, right. I did." Grace said nonchalantly.

"Grace." Adam said, uncomfortably.

"I'm all right." She assured. She looked at Joan. "Thanks to you especially." She said. Joan nodded, afraid she might cry again if she talked.

"So, Adam, how was your day?" Grace teased.


	13. And You Say Stay

**That Summer  
Rating: T-M  
Disclaimer:** If the characters were mine I'd be getting paid to write TV scripts, now wouldn't I? So…you know the drill.  
**Reviewers: Kool-Wolf – **Stop the hate my friend! Violence is not the answer! ) Glad you liked it enough to hate that I stopped writing…did that make sense outside of my head? **Butterfly Dancing – **Yeah…but nothing's perfect. Maybe for this story he's pretty close though…You could find Hunter and kill him but then I wouldn't have an ending to my story! **Sam – **Hellooooo, how ya doing? Glad you liked the hairline fracture subplot. Just FYI, I put it in to show that Joan was really that desperate to save Grace's life that she didn't know how hard to she was doing the CPR. **Laura – **I'm glad you've stepped out of denial and into reality! Nice accidental pun by the way. What happens now is, you have to read to find out. Yes I will clear that up. I'm trying to slide it in at the right time, that's why it wasn't in the past chapters. **peachteach – **Don't you love rollercoaster rides? The whole adrenaline rush thing, it's pretty wicked sometimes. I'm glad you want more, because more's coming!  
**Everyone: Thanks for reading still. We're almost done here! I'm thinking a sequel may be coming but who knows? There's going to be one, two chapters more at most, just FYI.  
A/N: As always sorry for the typos, I suck. **

**

* * *

Chapter 13 – And You Say…Stay**

"So what do you think happens now?" Adam asked. He didn't like sitting in waiting rooms with Luke after the time that Joan had passed out because of Lyme disease. He always expected Luke to get defensive and ask pointed, personal questions regarding Joan and himself. Of course Adam knew that Joan was sitting in between them this time instead of Grace, but still. It gave Adam the willies.

"They'll probably keep her for a couple of days. That way they can observe her to prevent secondary drowning." Luke said plainly. He was staring at his feet, with his elbows resting idly on his knees and his head bent low.

"Secondary drowning?" Joan asked, confused. "She's not even near water."

"She doesn't have to be." Luke turned his head to look at Joan. "Water causes damage to the inside of her lungs. It can collapse the alveoli and cause a hardening of the lungs which will reduce the ability to exchange air." He looked at their confused faces. "It's bad. It's very bad. They have to watch for it or she'll die." He told them.

"But…" Joan met Luke's eyes. "But since she's here…they can, you know stop that right?"

Luke nodded. "Yeah." He said. All three of them looked up silently when Will approached them. He sighed softly and looked at the three teens in front of him. He crouched down to their level, watching their eyes following him.

"What happens now?" Joan spoke up, echoing Adam's question.

"Well," Will began. "They've got an APB out for Hunter. It's all over the news. He's considered dangerous, obviously. When they find him, they'll bring him back here for arraignment."

Joan leaned forward. "What if they don't find him?" She asked. Will reached up and took his daughter's face in his hands.

"They'll find him." He said sternly.

"Where did mom go?" Joan questioned.

"She went to get some food for all of you." Will replied. Joan nodded.

"I need to go for a walk…some…um…you know...air, that kind of thing." She stood.

"I'll go with you." Adam stood as well.

"Stay on the hospital grounds." Will called over his shoulder. He sat next to Luke, who was staring at the ceiling. "Are you, okay?" He asked Luke. Luke didn't move. He closed his eyes and let out a deep breath.

"Where are Grace's parents?" He asked, the underlying anger shining through his calm tone. Will nodded slightly, understanding that Luke was upset.

"Her father said he would be able to make it here tomorrow. And her mother…" Will trailed off.

"Let me guess-passed out?" Luke asked with a nervous, aggravated chuckle as he rolled his head and then sat up. "That's just great. They don't even care that their daughter could have died-she _was _dead!" Luke was on his feet now, screaming. His voice was getting tight and his eyes had filled. Will stood up, using his hands as he talked calmly.

"I know you feel that way, Luke-,"

"NO! Don't justify it for them!" Luke screamed. "They don't care! She was dead, dad! Dead…not breathing! No heartbeat! She was blue!" He bellowed. He didn't even care that his father saw him crying now. "I thought…"his voice caught, half sobs cutting into them no matter how hard Luke tried to stop them. "I thought she was gone, dad. I…I thought it was over…I was never going to see her eyes again. I was never going to see her laugh when I went off on some stupid, unimportant scientific rant. I thought…" Luke shook his head, closing his eyes tight. "I thought…I-I felt…" He put his hand to his chest, unable to control his emotions at this point after trying to hold them together for so long. He shook his head harder, avoiding his dad's eyes as the tears came. "I felt…helpless…I couldn't breathe, I couldn't…think." He looked at his father. "I felt like I was dying. She was dead. Dad. She was really dead. And…and her parents…they don't even care!" Luke felt like he was going to collapse. His legs felt wobbly.

Will reached out and grabbed Luke by his upper arms. Will was visibly shaken by the distraught state his son was in. His own eyes were filling up. He was thinking about how he would have reacted if someone had called to tell him that his daughter who was three and a half hours away, had drowned and was revived and in a hospital. It would have taken him an hour to get to where she was because he would have driven so fast.

"I don't know why some people react the way they do in times like these, son." Will said calmly. "I don't want to pretend I know what this felt like for you." He said after a moment of thought as Luke stared at him. He put his hand on the side of Luke's face, by his neck. "But I want you to know I got here as soon as I could. And that I will never, ever be far away from you when you need me." He said sternly. Luke wavered a moment, and then his legs mostly gave out. He collapsed into his father who was prepared for it, and caught him, hugging Luke closely to him.

* * *

"Your brother's taking this surprisingly well." Adam said once he and Joan has taken up residence on a bench that was close to the entrance of the hospital. Joan had her right foot pulled up, sitting on it with her left leg and turned so she was facing Adam. He was slouched, facing forward, turning his head to look at her with his hands in his pockets. Joan put her left elbow on the top of the bench and rested her head against her hand. 

"I know…he'll explode sooner or later." She sighed. "He does that…bottle it up, blow a gasket thing."

"Ah…" He nodded. "Are you okay?"

Joan took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm…waiting for you know, my adrenaline to shut off. After that…I'm thinking I might just pass out from exhaustion." She looked at the thoughtful look on Adam's face. Joan reached out with her right hand and touched Adam's arm. "You were really scared too, huh?"

Adam nodded, staring off at the moon hanging low in the sky. "I was thinking, earlier. About everything Grace did for me. You know, when my mom…" Adam let the sentence end itself. Joan squeezed his arm a little tighter as Adam looked down, kicking and toeing a crack in front of him on the ground. He scoffed slightly. "How could we have been dumb enough to think he was finished with us?"

Joan looked at Adam. "He who? The big guy orrrr…Ryan?"

"Both. Mostly Ryan." He turned his head and looked at Joan. "I figured there wasn't an end to the God part." He smiled slightly. "As long as you don't go dancing with him anymore."

Joan smiled slightly. "Can I ask you something?"

"Cha, you know you can, Jane." He replied.

"When I told you…in the hospital, that I talked to God. You didn't believe me." Joan began. Adam nodded, guilty as charged. "When…and what, exactly, changed your mind?"

Adam thought about this for a moment. His mouth hung open a little tiny bit, moving a few times like he was about to form some words and then he thought twice about them. A small chuckle came to his throat and a tiny grin appeared on his face.

"Come to think of it, it was Grace actually." He said. Joan looked at him, confused.

"Grace?" She asked, unsure. "How could it have been Grace? She still thinks I'm looney, even if she does believe me."

"She said that it wasn't possible for all of the crazy antics that you did, all the stuff that led to good ripples or whatever, without some kind of higher power knowing that your actions would lead to go things." Adam said quickly.

"I'm sorry, was that in English?" Joan asked. Adam chuckled slightly.

"Grace felt that there was no way voices and illusions from someone's brain could influence them to do all the good things you were doing." He tried again. "She said she talked to Luke about it. And they both came to the conclusion that if you no longer had Lyme disease, then there was no way that you could have been delusional. So they started taking turns watching you. They eavesdropped on all those conversations you had with strange people they didn't know." Adam looked at her. "And they were pretty much convinced. And that's when the little girl with the bug glasses," He looked at her to see if she knew who he meant. Joan nodded. "Yeah, she talked to them. Just before last Christmas." He chuckled almost. "Remember…when you couldn't figure out why we agreed so readily to help you convince the diner waitress that Lilly knew to go back to school?"

Joan nodded. It was after that, that Grace, Luke and even Adam, had confronted her, in an almost reverse intervention. They'd setup a movie night when Will and Helen were going out to dinner. Luke and Joan had just gotten the pizza they'd ordered. They were just settling in in the living room when Adam and Grace showed up at the door. They sat around the living room coffee table, eating pizza, popcorn, M&M's and drinking too much soda. All at once the three of them had exchanged glances and then started confessing to her that they believed her and they were sorry-which was a lot coming from Grace particularly-and that they would always be there to help her so that she could rest easier and not have so many people going against her all the time. Joan smiled, almost laughed at the memory. She shook her head.

"How come you never asked before?" Adam questioned. Joan blushed slightly, hitching her shoulders up in a long shrug.

"I was afraid if I questioned the motif behind it, that it would cause a chain reaction where I wound up losing your support. I figured it would be better just not to question it and be thankful that you all were at least pretending to believe me." She said. "And then God started talking to me in front of you, and Luke and Grace. You guys didn't always recognize at first but after awhile it became as usual to you as it is to me."

"I'm sorry." Adam said, looking at her.

"Oh please, Adam. It's all in the past now. Everything turned out all right-good ripples." She smiled. Adam shook his head.

"I mean for everything." He cleared his throat. "I know it takes a lot for you to trust me all the time…and I know it's my fault because of that."

Joan always felt uncomfortable when the familiar topic. She knew that Adam was sorry for what he'd done. She also knew that she was tired of visiting the subject. She knew that it was way passed time to move on, or else she wouldn't have gotten back together with Adam. Of course it helped that Bonnie had gone 'insane' and was now in a hospital, even if that was all Ryan's doing. Joan looked at Adam. She leaned in and kissed him.

"Stop. It's time to stop visiting this conversation." She told him. Adam only nodded.

"What are you kids doing out here?" Helen crossed from the parking lot with a couple of bags of food from McDonald's in one hand and a tray of soda cups in the other. Joan and Adam climbed to their feet.

"Let us help you with that mom." Joan took some of the bags.

"Yeah Mrs. Girardi, I'll take those." Adam took the two trays of sodas and they headed inside.

* * *

Grace couldn't let herself sleep. She listened to the hum of the machines in the dimly lit room. She sighed, looking around the room. She wished that someone would come in and sit with her, but they all thought she was asleep. She really wished Luke, particularly, would come and sit in the empty chair next to her bed, and refuse to leave even when the nurses tried to kick him out after visiting hours. Grace sighed, closely her eyes for a moment. She heard yelling from somewhere out in the hall. Straining her ears Grace listened for what it could be. She heard Luke. 

"What the…" she said out loud to herself, cocking her head towards the door.

"NO! Don't justify for them!" She heard Luke screamed. Grace listened intently as Luke bellowed out how he felt. She listened to the emotion in his shouts as he screamed about seeing her lying dead on a beach and in the water. Grace closed her eyes, letting a few solemn tears slide from the corners of them. She shook her head and wiped her eyes when the yelling stopped. It was her fault that he had felt so horrible and shaken.

* * *

Grace snapped to attention and put on a forced smirk as the door to her room opened. Helen, Adam and Joan burst in, smiling and carrying fast food. 

"Oh, I see how it is, you really are trying to kill me?" Grace joked, positioning herself on the bed to sit up straight and grimacing at the pain in her ribs.

"Ooh…hey, I'm sorry about that by the way." Joan motioned to show she meant the rib fracture. Grace chuckled softly and waved a hand at her.

"Psssh, please," she looked at Joan with a smile. "The pain is much better than being dead, dude."

Helen frowned. "You shouldn't make jokes like that." She said. Without warning she stepped forward and hugged Grace. "It's a miracle you're alive, Grace." She said. Grace had frozen. She knew Joan's mom could be very emotional and caring towards all of them. Grace could honestly say she didn't mind it, though she would never tell Joan, Adam or Luke that.

"Uh…tell me you got cheeseburgers because phew, boy am I starving." Grace interrupted the hug. Helen stood up, knowing Grace just felt awkward. She gathered a few things of food.

"You three divide this up. I'll take this out to Will, and send Luke in." She said, exchanging a glance with Grace before leaving the room.

* * *

About an hour later, it was around 6 p.m. and everyone had finished their food. Luke was staring at Grace as she, Joan and Adam exchanged witty banter back and forth, having dropped the heavy topic of what was going to happen to Ryan forty-five minutes ago. It took a few moments for Grace to notice his eyes on her. She glanced at him and then cleared her throat, looking at Adam and Joan. 

"Okay, as much as I just love all this company…I'm gonna have to kick you guys out." She said. Joan looked at the expression on Luke's face and took Adam by the hand.

"Oh, of course. We were just about to leave to check on how the manhunt's going." She said.

"We were?" Adam asked. Joan elbowed him lightly. He nodded. "Oh. We were." He smiled, following Joan out.

Grace looked at Luke. He looked like he was at a loss for words. She could see the red in his eyes from when he'd been yelling and obviously crying earlier. They didn't speak at first. They just studied each other.

"Are you going to tell me what's on your mind, or should I ask?" She questioned him. Luke was seated in on f the chairs against the wall at the foot of her bed. His hands were entwined together, his elbows resting on his knees as he sat forward and the knuckles of his thumbs were touching his lips as he leaned his face on his hands. He watched her for a minute, contemplating his response. Then he let his hands fall and his arms lounge around his knees.

"You're parents aren't coming…" He said, knowing she wouldn't want him to tap dance around it. Grace's expression didn't flinch or change much. She had known this was coming. She hadn't actually expected that either one of her parents would show up after they got the report that she was in fact alive and all right. Luke watched her carefully for her reaction. Grace pushed her lips together tightly and nodded.

"Ah well, they've gotta cut the chord sometime, eh?" She responded. Luke shook his head. He didn't know what to say. "Hey…come here…" She moved herself to the side of the bed and patted the empty space on the bed next to her. Luke rose to his feet. He walked over and climbed in next to her, sitting up on the bed. Grace put her head down on his chest as he slipped his right arm around her shoulders. She took a deep breath and inhaled his scent. He smelled salty, like the ocean water. She knew he had rushed into the water in his clothes, Joan had told her.

"I don't care." Grace said quietly. Luke looked down at her. She was staring at his shirt as her hand drew fake lines on it by his stomach. He watched the top of her head. Slowly, Grace turned her head up to meet his eyes.

"I do." He said. "I know you enough to know that you do too." He said, reaching up to brush her hair behind her ear. Grace took a deep breath and winced. Luke felt his heart jump.

"It doesn't matter." She said.

"Grace." Luke protested. Grace lifted her head up and kissed him.

"Just…" she interrupted him before he could speak again. "Just don't leave…okay? Stay…Stay here with me."

Luke nodded. Grace put her head back down, leaving her right arm along his torso, as if draping her arm across him would ensure she would hold him there. Luke tilted his head down and kissed the top of hers, using his left hand to stroke her hair gently and entwining his left fingers in her right, careful not to jostle the IV in the back of her hand. It didn't take long for her to fall into a calm sleep.

* * *

"Is there a problem officer?" 

"I need your license, registration and proof of insurance, sir." The officer said, chewing his gum. The man at the wheel handed the requested information over. The officer looked at it and started filling out paperwork.

"Why did you pull me over?" He asked.

"Well, Mr. Hunter," The officer said. "It seems that you were doing 85 in a 55 zone."

Ryan sighed. "Whatever. Just, write me a ticket and let me go." He said. He was nervous and edgy. The officer picked up on this. He backed up, unbuttoning his gun holster, and backing up a step.

"Sir, turn off the car, and step out of the vehicle with your hands in the air." The officer said, pulling his gun and aiming it. Ryan sighed and rolled his eyes. He turned the car off and slowly opened the door.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked the officer as she stood next to the open car door, with his hands in the air and his back to the officer.

"Don't talk. Put your hands on your head." The officer ordered. Ryan put his hands on his head. He listened closely. When he knew the officer was close enough, he prepared his attack. The officer was reaching for Ryan's right wrist. Ryan was about to throw his head backwards and head butt the officer when an APB rang out loudly over the officer's walkie-talkie, startling them both. The officer composed himself faster than Ryan did and by the time Ryan reacted he was in handcuffs. The police officer sat him in the back of the cruiser and then called in to the operator for a repeat of the all-points bulletin as he ran Ryan's license through the system.

"Ryan Hunter," the officer said a minute later. "You are under arrest for the attempted murder of Grace Polk. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can, and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you-,"

"I know my rights." Ryan said. "Shut up and get on with it." He snapped. The police officer waited. Another cop car pulled up behind them a few minutes later. The officer got out and came to speak to the other officer.

"I'll call the tow for this car, you bring him on in. The detective from Arcadia will be wanting to speak with him as well." The second officer explained. The first one nodded. After they finished a short conversation, the police cruiser was on its way to the station, to book Ryan Hunter on murder charges.

"I warned you, Ryan." The female officer said as she tilted Ryan's left index finger into ink and then rolled it onto a paper. Ryan stared at the woman for a minute. He snickered.

"I guess I didn't get enough water in for my soul." He said. Cop God shook her head.

"You had such promise when you first started to see me." She commented.

"Oh my, where did we go wrong in raising the kids, hon?" Ryan snipped back. "Why don't you do me a favor and go to hell?"

* * *

"Good news-," Will said as he entered Grace's room. Luke was still on the bed with Grace using him as a pillow. Both were asleep leaning against each other as if their very lives depended on it. Helen was on the couch that was along the side wall, with Joan leaning on one of her shoulders, asleep and Adam asleep on the other. She had her arms around both of their shoulders, running her hands gingerly through their hair. 

"Shhh…" she held her finger up to her lips, cutting Will off. Will stopped. He smiled and then whispered.

"They just picked up Hunter." He said. "I'm going down to meet them now. Tell them, when they wake up, okay?"

Helen nodded. Will kissed her and then left. Helen looked around at the four sleeping teens and let out a sigh of relief. "What am I going to do with you kids?" She asked herself. Then a thought dawned on her. "What am I going to do with you all so far away?" She sighed again.


	14. Safe In The Arms Of Love

**That Summer  
Rating: T-M  
Disclaimer:** If the characters were mine I'd be getting paid to write TV scripts, now wouldn't I? So…you know the drill.  
**Reviewers: Sam – **No, no I think I got the 'good job dude' part. Just to clarify, when I said I suck, I meant in regard to proofreading ) Thanks for the vote of confidence on Luke's meltdown; I hoped I did it some justice. P.S. thanks for the ego feed…I'm thinking definite sequel. **sayxanything – **I have to stop sometime! Just not yet…) **Kool-Wolf – **Hey now didn't we discuss the hatred? Spread the love! Hate is not the answer! )  
**Everyone else: Thanks for the reads, much love to you (even if you don't review…cough, cough…feel the guilt)  
A/N: Okay kids, this is the final stretch, it's almost over! Thanks for sticking with me. I'm glad it was good enough to hold your attention. A note, this chapter's pretty lame and…extremely short actually, but the next one's the last one, so hang in there! **

**

* * *

Chapter 14 – Safe In The Arms Of Love**

"Why did you do it, Hunter?" Will asked, sitting across from Ryan in the interrogation room. Two other detectives were in the room, observing and waiting to ask their own questions.

"Do what?" Ryan asked innocently. Will leaned in closer.

"You picked the wrong man's family to mess with, junior…" He said to Ryan. Ryan smiled.

"You know my family history, Mr. Girardi…" He said smugly. "Why reason could I have for hurting my own sister?" He grinned, knowing in his head that he had Will Girardi beat. He leaned back, putting his hands behind his head and grinning. Will stood up, smiling. He walked towards the door. As he passed Ryan he leaned down slightly.

"We have 15 witnesses, not counting Grace, Joan and Luke, who are going to pick you out of a line up as the man who was drowning. And did I mention that your victim is a witness too?" He asked, watching Ryan's demeanor change drastically. "And after all of that…we have your hand print," Will demonstrated, using his own hand on his own neck to job Ryan's memory. "Forensics is going to match your hand up perfectly to the nice purple bruises you left behind as evidence." He smiled. "You're going down for this, Mr. Hunter." Will almost smiled. "Did you know that attempted first-degree murder carries a sentence of life in prison…and I'm going to be the one that makes sure it's without parole," He said before giving Ryan's shoulder a slap and leaving.

* * *

"It's about time you two woke up." Joan said as she and Adam entered Grace's room to see Grace and Luke talking quietly. Luke had moved from lying with Grace on the bed, to the chair that was next to her bed, still holding her hand. 

"Hey." Grace said, offering a small smile. "Where did you guys go?"

Joan and Adam held up fast food bags. "Grub." Adam replied. Grace groaned.

"I don't know which is worse, pumping me full of fast food, or hospital food." She grimaced, holding a hand out for one of the bags. Joan laughed and handed one of them over, watching as Grace promptly dug out an order of fries and started to dig in.

"Well, I take it that's better then the hospital food." Luke said. Grace nodded as she chewed.

"So what's going on today? Do I get to leave this stupid place or what?" She asked.

"Well…they found Hunter." Joan said. Luke and Grace both stared at her.

"Oh, yeah, they wanted us to make sure we told you when you woke up." Adam jumped in after grabbing a burger. Grace nodded slowly, waiting for the rest of the information expectantly. Luke looked between Joan and Adam.

"And…?" He led them.

"Oh!" Joan shook herself from her thoughts. "Right. He's being charged with attempted first-degree murder." She nodded.

"And it's pretty much a given that he'll get convicted." Adam nodded, smiling some.

"How long?" Grace asked, looking around at all of them. "I mean how long will he, you know, get put away for or however you want to say it?"

"Life sentence." Adam nodded.

"Yeah, and you know my dad. He won't get out in our lifetime." She said. Grace relaxed back against her bed, picking up her soda to take a sip. She nodded.

"Where's your mom?" She changed the subject.

"She's out at the nurse's station, trying to figure out when they'll let you break out of this joint." Joan told her.

"Hopefully soon. I'd like to move my legs more than just going to the bathroom and getting back in bed sometime soon." Grace said miserably. Luke knew it was more than walking around that made Grace hate hospitals.

* * *

It wasn't until dinnertime that Will and Helen re-entered Grace's room, smiling. They'd gone to the beach house and picked up clothes for all four of the kids since none of them had left the hospital. 

"Okay, the good doctor said you are okay to check out. They're drawing up the paperwork." Will said. Helen put the bags of clothes on the bed.

"We brought some clothes. You can take turns getting changed in the bathroom." She smiled.

"Are they sure it's safe?" Luke interjected. "Nothing's going to happen if she's not here will it?"

"Relax brain, they wouldn't discharge me if it wasn't okay." Grace said. She didn't want to spend another minute in the hospital.

"Everything checked out, Luke." Helen assured. "Grace's going to be fine whether she's here or at the house."

Luke looked at the expression on Grace's face and nodded, deciding to agree with this.

"Okay." He said, still feeling paranoid.

* * *

"Hey…Grace…wake up." Luke shook Grace's shoulder. He was sitting on the end of the couch with Grace curled up along the couch using his lap as a pillow. Her hands were curled under her head and her feet pulled up. Luke had yet to fall asleep. Joan and Adam were curled up on the loveseat, asleep after watching movies into the night. Grace had started to cough and Luke's paranoia kicked in. He shook her shoulder again. "Grace…" He said again. Grace opened her eyes, coughing a couple more times. She sat up, taking in a couple of deep breaths. Luke watched her intently. 

"Are you all right?" He asked nervously. Grace nodded.

"I'm just going to go get a drink." She assured him. Luke stopped her.

"I'll get it, what do you want?" He asked. Grace looked at him, amused, grateful and yet, still frustrated at this response.

"I'm not going to crumble, brain. I've got legs. I can get myself a drink." She told him stubbornly.

"I know that, but it would make me feel better if you let me get it for you." Luke told her. Grace seemed to accept this. She nodded.

"Okay." She told him. "Can you just get me some water?"

Luke nodded and went for the kitchen. Grace looked around and found the remote. She flipped around through channels until she came to a movie channel that was having a horror movie marathon. Currently it was locked on the Amityville Horror. Grace rolled her eyes but left the movie on, pulling her feet up to the couch cushions so it looked like she was sitting on her feet. She put her head down against the back of the couch, still watching the TV.

Five minutes later Luke came back with her water, some sodas and popcorn.

"I would ask what took so long, but the microwave and popping sounds gave it away." Grace said as Luke put the stuff down on the coffee table and sat facing her. He handed her the glass of water. "Thanks," She said, taking a drink from the cup. Luke nodded. "So what tasty treats did you bring?" She looked at the tray.

"Popcorn, cold pizza, and M&M's." Luke said, picking up a piece of the leftover pizza and taking a bite. "Oh, and some sodas, in case you want more then water."

"Good call." Grace smiled, grabbing a handful of popcorn.

"I thought you hated horror movies?" Luke asked as he settled back to watch the TV. Grace slide her head over to use his shoulder as a resting place instead of the couch.

"I do. It's always about someone who dies because they had sex. And you know every horror movie has to have a female hero, who's totally a virgin and gives it up in the end so she has to get chased by the killer in a crude attempt to stop teens from premarital sex based on the idea that if they do they'll get iced by some freak who has parental issues to the extent that they snap and kill all of their friends and then get addicted to killing and can stop and-,"

Grace's long winded rant was cut off by Luke leaning in and kissing her. Grace licked her lips slightly when they pulled apart. She looked from his lips to his eyes and let a sly smile slide across half of her face. "You taste like garlic." She said. Luke held up the small piece of pizza he had left.

"Extra garlic." He grinned. Grace rolled her eyes. "That just means kissing me is good for your health right now."

"Oh please, Romeo." She tossed a couple pieces of popcorn at him. "Shhhhh, this is the best part…" She imitated the voice of the house dramatically. "GET OUT!"

"What? Who? How? No, it wasn't me!" Adam said, sitting bolt upright.

"NO! YOU MEAN KOALAS!" Joan yelped at the same time. Luke and Grace laughed, as Grace grabbed her ribs at the pain, unable to hold back the laughter.

"You tell those koala bears, Girardi." Grace said with a stern face before laughing again. Joan looked around confused, still half asleep. Adam looked dazed. As soon as Joan realized what was going on she threw a pillow at Luke and Grace.

"Hey, hey don't injure the already injured." Luke said protectively.

"You wait until you can't use that excuse…" Joan said, trying not to laugh at herself.

Within 10 minutes all four of them were settled, watching the horror movie marathon again. Grace sighed quietly.

"Is this summer almost over?" She said so only Luke could hear. Luke glanced at her.

"You know minus a couple of moments…these passed couple of days especially…" he shook his head like he was trying to get an image out of his head. "I thought we had a pretty good summer." He smiled.

"I know." Grace nodded. "We did." She admitted. "I just want to get on with it. Besides don't tell me _you_ aren't excited for school?"

"I am, that's for sure." He smiled slightly. "I didn't think you'd be though."

"I'm not. It's more the moving away for more then just a few months of screwing around that's making it worthwhile for me." Grace shrugged.

"And the prospect of changing the system." Luke said. Grace snickered slightly.

"Yes, of course." She said. Luke kissed her temple. Grace looked at him as he turned his attention back to the TV. Grace studied him for a few minutes. Luke felt her gaze and looked over.

"What?" He whispered. He watched Grace's eyes roam around his face for a few seconds before she shook her head as if to say nothing. "Okay." Luke turned his attention back to the movie. Grace watched him a moment longer.

_One day, I'll tell you, _she thought to herself, _I just can't yet._ She sighed and put her head back down on his shoulder, reaching for more popcorn.


	15. Nice To Meet You, Anyway

**That Summer  
Rating: T-M  
Disclaimer:** If the characters were mine I'd be getting paid to write TV scripts, now wouldn't I? So…you know the drill.  
**Reviewers: Kool-Wolf – **Hey no, can't we all just get along? Don't Hate, procreate! How's this for a soon enough update my friend…who hates me! **AudreyF. – **I'm glad you liked the Koalas; I waited the ENTIRE story to throw that in! Sadly this is the last chapter planned…for this part of the story! Muahahaha! Thanks for sticking with me. P.S. you so need to keep writing your anarchy story! If you couldn't tell, I love it! **Butterfly Dancing – **Thank you! Ditto above about the koalas. I'm glad it was good enough for you to picture, that means I wrote it right! I don't know…does she love him? Maybe…Yes this is the lat chapter…keep that grin hopeful, a sequel may be coming!  
**A/N:** **Okay kids, this is it. This is the end. If you've got something to say about this story now's the time to do it! What do you think…do you want a sequel? If so, how far in the future should I set it? Let me know in your review (cough, cough)**

**

* * *

Chapter 15 – Nice To Meet You, Anyway**

"Mmmm…" Grace took a deep breath as she woke up to the sounds of Kool & The Gang's "Celebration." She laughed slightly as she rubbed her face awake. "This is a crappy song…"

"Yes it is." Luke agreed. "But I knew it would wake you up."

"How long have we been driving?" Grace asked him as she sat up and stretched.

"About 6 hours." Luke replied. He and Grace had gained control of Squiggy due to the fact that Joan and Adam were flying out to Stanford in California, and Luke and Grace were staying on the same coast that the car was on.

"I was out for 5 hours?" Grace asked. She hit Luke's arm lightly. "You could have woken me up, dude. You're not tired are you?"

Luke smiled. "No, I'm fine. I ate all the goldfish, though."

"Ahh…you suck." Grace mused, turning the bag upside down to see if even a single goldfish remained before tossing it back onto the seat.

"We'll be there in about an hour. We can stop and get dinner before we move you in." Luke proposed.

"We're moving me in first?" She asked. Luke nodded.

"Yeah. I figured the way we packed everything in the car, that would be the easiest." Luke shrugged. Grace nodded.

"Okay." She stretched again. "Do you think Joan and Adam are moved in by now?" she looked at her watch.

"Considering it's three hours earlier once they land, and they left early…yeah I think they're in already." Luke nodded.

"I wonder how heinous their roommates are." Grace mused.

"I don't know but I called mom an hour or two ago and she said they added a third roommate into Joan's room." Luke said.

"I wonder if it's God." Grace pondered. Luke snickered.

"That would be ironic." He conceded.

* * *

"Hi! I'm Joan!" Joan said as a girl with tanned skin, bright blonde hair and two boxes all but fell in the room. "Let me help you with that!" Joan quickly took one of the boxes. 

"Uhm…thanks, Joan was it?" The girl asked, giving Joan a once over.

"Yeah. That's me. Joan." Joan nodded, putting the box down. "Are you Colby or Johana?"

"Oh, sorry." The girl said, putting her own box down on top of the other one. "I'm Colby." She said, hesitating to reach out and shake Joan's hand.

"Nice to meet you Colby." Joan said, beginning to feel slightly unsure of herself but trying to hide it. "Do you need help with your other stuff?"

"Oh! No, I have help-," Colby was cut off but a man stumbling in with a duffle bag and another box.

"Oof…" He grunted as he set the stuff down. "Col, what's in here, bricks?" He complained.

"Uh, Brandon, this is Joan. Joan, this is my brother Brandon." Colby introduced the man. He was a good five or six inches taller than both Joan and Colby. He had the look and build of a California surfer, complete with full tan, muscular build, and shaggy, sandy blonde hair. His blue eyes matched Colby's.

"Hello, Joan." Brandon smiled broadly and shook her hand. "Good to see you've gotten yourself a beautiful roommate, Col, maybe I will be over to visit you after all." He grinned, revealing two dimples. Colby elbowed him.

"Forgive him, Joan, he can't control himself." Colby rolled her eyes, crossing her arms.

"Are you guys, uhm, twins?" Joan asked, though it was fairly obvious. Colby and Brandon laughed, having heard the question all our lives.

"Actually, I'm her big brother." Brandon said proudly.

"Humph!" Colby huffed and shoved Brandon. "Only by twelve minutes!" She complained.

"Still makes me older." He smiled brightly. "I'm going to get my own stuff now. Nice to meet you, Joan. See you girls later." Brandon ducked out of the room. Colby rolled her eyes.

"Uhm…I, er, took the top bunk." Joan indicated out of the bunk beds and the lofted bed. "I don't know if that's a problem but if it is, I can move my stuff."

"Oh, not at all. Bottom's fine with me." Colby shrugged. "So, Joan, where are you from?" She asked as she busied herself with unloading her things.

"Uhm, Arcadia. Maryland." Joan said, sitting down in a desk chair. "What about you?"

"Oh, not as far for sure. Just round the corner. San Francisco to be exact." Colby said absently. Joan was about to comment when they heard a yelp at the doorway. A girl a little bit shorter than Colby and Joan was stuck in the doorway with two oversized duffle bags and a box in her hands. Joan jumped out of her seat, half to help and half out of shock and being startled.

"You must be Johana!" Joan smiled, reaching out to take the box, which she promptly put on a nearby desk. "I'm Joan, here give me one of those." She reached out for a duffle bag. Johana gratefully handed over a bag with a heave and a sigh.

"Thank you so much." She said, squeezing in he door. "And you can call me Joey. Or Jo…whichever you prefer." Her accent broke through. She had long dark hair, her skin was dark tan, but not from being in the sun and she had big brown eyes and a bright smile on her face.

"That's a fun accent, are you from Australia?" Joan asked, putting the bag down.

Johana smiled. "I was born in Spain, but I lived in Australia until 3 years ago when we moved to Arizona." She explained.

"Wow, you've been all over!" Joan smiled. Johana nodded, glancing at Colby.

"Are you Colby?" She asked. Colby barely looked up.

"Yup, that's me. Hi." Colby replied, not bothering to stop unpacking. Joan and Johana exchanged a glance. Before either had spoken, Joan's cell phone rang. She all but dove at it and answered it.

"Hello?" She said into the phone. "Hey Adam! Yeah. I'm totally famished too. Okay, I'll meet you down at your room in five minutes. Okay. I know, I will. Bye! You too!" Joan hung up. Colby rolled her eyes. Johana looked at Joan, interested.

"You have a boyfriend already and you just moved in? Phew, that's talent!" She said to Joan. Joan blushed and laughed.

"I'm not that swift!" Joan smiled. "Adam and I went to high school together. Or at least most of it. We've kind of been a thing off and on throughout. Currently, we're on. And his roommate is as hungry as we are so we're going to go search out a diner. Either of you want to join?" Joan asked. Johana nodded.

"Oh gosh yes!" She said, sliding her belongings into a corner out of the way. "If that's okay?"

"Of course it is, that's why I asked!" Joan chuckled. "What about you, Colby?"

"Oh…no. I'm not really hungry. I think I want to get settled and take a nap before the floor meeting tonight." Colby said. "You have fun and stuff."

"Okay. Are you sure?" Joan asked as she gathered her things.

"Mmmhmm." Colby replied.

"Okay, well, here's my cell phone number," Joan found a scrap of paper and a pen and jotted her number down, leaving it on Colby's desk. "In case you want us to bring you any food back, okay?"

"Mmmhmm, sure. Thanks." Colby said breezily.

Joan shrugged and she and Johana left the room.

"So what floor is…Adam is it?" Johana waited for Joan to nod. "What floor is he on?"

"Fourth floor, just under us." Joan said as they went to the stairwell. It took them a couple of minutes to get to room 402. Joan knocked on the door. An Asian boy with spiked black hair opened the door. He looked very much like a skater. He had a couple of black necklaces with zodiac signs and medallions on them around his neck, as well as a metal chain necklace. One wrist had four or five beaded bracelets tied to it with the strings hanging down. The other had a leather watch with a wristband in front of it. He hand on loose cargo pants that were tattered at the bottom, and worn black chucks on his feet. On top of that was his worn out black Metallica T-shirt. For a split second Joan thought about Luke and how he liked Metallica.

"Whoa! You must be Jane!" The boy said. Then he noticed Johana. "Or are you Jane?"

"Who's Jane?" Johana asked. Adam appeared behind the skater.

"That's Jane, yo." He pointed.

"I'm Joan." Joan held her hand out. "And you must be…Adam's roommate. Adam didn't tell me your name." She said.

"Wait, I thought he said you were Jane?" the skater asked. Joan smiled.

"It's a nickname. You can call me Joan." She glanced at Adam. Adam was the only one allowed to call her Jane. Adam smiled slightly.

"Jane, this is Tristan." He introduced. Joan was still holding her hand out.

"Handshakes? Psshh, forget that!" Without warning Tristan stepped forward and wrapped Joan in a bear hug, lifting her off the ground with a grunt and laughing. Joan squealed.

"Oh God stop, you'll get a hernia!" She pleaded. Tristan set her down happily. He noticed Johana again and smiled.

"And who's this?" Tristan asked, smiling broadly.

"Tristan, Adam, this is one of my roommates, Johana." Joan introduced. "Johana, this, as you just found out is Tristan and that's Adam."

Adam and Johana shook hands.

"Nice to meet you, Adam." Johana said.

"Unchallenged." Adam nodded, stepping next to Adam. Tristan gave a similar bear hug to Johana, who just giggled ecstatically.

"So…who's hungry?" Joan asked.

"Oh, totally!" Tristan said excitedly. "What are we waiting for?"

"Not a thing, let's go." Adam took Joan's hand in his and they all started walking.

* * *

"Okay, that's the last of it." Luke said as he put the last box down in his room. His roommate hadn't been there since he and Grace had gotten there. He was moved in though. All of his things were on the top bunk and one of the desks. Luke stepped across to Grace and pulled her to him. 

"It's kind of weird, isn't it?" She asked, looking up at him. Luke nodded.

"It's different." He agreed. Grace's stomach grumbled. "Are you hungry again?" Luke laughed. Grace blushed.

"I was too nervous to eat much earlier!" She excused for herself.

"Why don't we go get some food then?" He asked. "I could use some coffee."

Grace nodded. "Okay." She made no effort to move. She was leaning up to kiss him when the door flew open.

"Whoa! Hey, sorry man, I must have the wrong room." The intruder said with a laugh. He inspected the number on the door and Grace and Luke stepped apart. "Oops! No, right room!" He said. He grinned. "You must be…uh…Lance?"

"Luke." Luke said, holding his hand out.

"Hey, Luke, right, right. I'm Lou." He smiled broadly and turned to Grace.

"This is my girlfriend Grace." Luke introduced, not minding the look he got from Grace. Grace let herself hold out her hand for Lou to shake it.

"Ah…Grace." He smiled and leaned in like he was going to kiss her hand. "The ladies usually call me Sweet Lou." He wiggled his eyebrows. Grace yanked her hand from his before he could kiss it. Lou was dressed in loose jeans that hung at his hips with a black belt. He hand a white wife-beater tucked into them and an unbuttoned royal blue t-shirt over top of it. He had a gold necklace with a small cross on it hanging around his neck, a black leather bracelet watch on his left hand and some silver rings on random fingers. His right wrist held a silver ID bracelet. He had wavy, thick dyed blonde hair that hung to his ears though it was brushed back.

"Riiight." She said, unamused. She looked at Luke. "Let's get going, huh?"

Luke nodded. "Right. Uhm, right." He looked at Lou. "We're going for food. See you later." He said.

"Nice to meet you two." Lou nodded and began changing his clothes as they were still in the room. Grace rolled her eyes and turned, heading out the door, with Luke close behind.

"He seems…"

"Like a creep." Luke finished for Grace.

"Ah well, maybe he was trying to be impressive, or something?" Grace asked.

"Did you just stick up for a stranger?" Luke asked as they walked arm in arm. Grace shrugged.

"Don't cause yourself trouble with your roommate because of me, that's all. I can hold my own, brain." She smiled. Luke nodded.

"I know you can." He said. "And I'll do well to keep good people around me…so far, Lou seems…"

"Like a toad." Grace supplied for Luke. Luke nodded.

"At least your roommate seems nice?" He said. Grace chuckled.

"You mean Pep-Squad Queen, Missy?" She asked. Luke chuckled.

"She could be nice. Maybe she's a good person." He suggested. Grace shrugged. "I wonder how Joan and Adam's roommates are?" Luke pondered out loud. Grace smiled as they reached a diner.

"I guess we'll find out next time we talk to them." She said.

"I guess so." Luke smiled and held the door for her.

"So, brain, how do you think this year's going to be?" Grace asked as they were seated and a waitress brought over some coffee. Both of them thanked her.

"Well…Ryan Hunter's in jail for life. Kevin have feeling in his foot and his lower leg now. Lilly's going to have the baby by Halloween, Joan and Adam are doing all right as far as I know, Glynis and Friedman are too, which is…"

"Odd." Grace supplied for him. Luke nodded, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Yeah, odd." He nodded.

"And us?" Grace asked, raising her eyebrow. Luke looked at her for a moment. He smiled slowly.

"I think we're gonna be just fine…" Luke said. "How about you?"

Grace smirked slightly.

"I don't know…is there some kind of chemical equation to make sure of that?" She asked. Luke nodded. "And what is it?" She asked.

"Well…that would be…Y plus M…times the connection of L…" Luke began.

Grace chuckled slightly. "Mmhmm…and what does that equal?" Grace asked as they both leaned their elbows on the table to move closer.

"Well…it equals…we're going to be just fine." He smiled. "Grace…" Luke hushed his voice, "I love-." Grace closed the small gap between them and kissed him, cutting his sentence off. _Maybe we will be okay, _Grace thought to herself, looking at Luke after they separated. He smiled at her and Grace nodded to herself. _Yup.

* * *

_**A/N: Thank you all again for sticking with me! If you enjoyed it, I'm glad you did. So let me know in the reviews, sequel? Yes? No? How far in the future should I set the sequel if I do one? And, what would you want to see more of? Let me know! Thanks again! Much love to you!**


End file.
